


To Release Him

by lethesbramble



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Anal Sex, Bisexuality, Claiming Bites, Double Penetration, F/M, M/M, Magic, Multi, Polyamory, Souls, Wolfram & Hart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-05-13 11:48:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14748282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lethesbramble/pseuds/lethesbramble
Summary: What if Willow freed Spike from the amulet? This story picks up during Chosen and will go through Not Fade Away.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter starts during the series finale of Buffy. The first episode of Angel season 5 starts, chronologically, about two weeks after. I'm making up what Angel and company did during those two weeks and drastically changing season 5.

The floor of a principal's office may not be the most idyllic place to perform a potentially world saving spell but that's where Willow was tapping into the most powerful magic she'd ever attempted. The fear of going veiny and evil again almost prevented her from completing it but power and peace flowed through her, as well as the knowledge the spell worked. She didn't need to see the white tresses in her peripheral vision to confirm she hadn't gone dark.  Euphoric joy brought tears to her eyes right before the spell ended and her hair returned to it's normal red. Across from her sat her girlfriend Kennedy who appeared relieved and overjoyed.

"You are a goddess," Kennedy said in astonishment. Willow lifted the scythe, whose power she channeled in the spell, and handed it to her girlfriend.

"And you're a slayer. Get this to Buffy," she told the new slayer before falling to her side giddy in the aftermath. "That was nifty."

The power she felt coursing through her was intense. The power of good, the Powers that Be, and the power of the entire slayer line burned in her veins. She almost wanted it to stop but it felt so good she wasn't fighting it. She should get up and help but she was still so overcome by the magic she had worked. Using the power, she reached out towards the battle to see if everyone was in position. Whether because of physical proximity or being acquainted with him the longest, Willow felt Xander first and was surprised that she could not only tell his position in relation to her but she could feel his soul. He was sure of his convictions and the plan they'd laid out but there was also terror. She was proud of him for being here anyway. It was then she realized that during the course of the spell she'd touched the soul of every living potential in the world and right now she still had the power to reach out for and read souls. As she thought of the spell she could feel all the newly awakened slayers a few floors beneath her fighting to beat back the First's army of turok han.

She felt for Buffy and was not surprised her best friend's heart and soul were singularly focused on the task at hand. Love for friends and family fueled her attacks and Willow's heart swelled with pride and awe at the ingrained fierceness contained in such a tiny body. Faith was next and like Buffy she had a sense of duty but the dark slayer's need for redemption and acceptance were only surpassed by the excitement she felt when she exerted her skills.

Willow continued picking up the unique signatures of all the souls in the school. Vi, her fellow ginger, lost all her timidness. Kennedy was joyous in her strength. The protectiveness Willow could see in her girlfriend had increased exponentially for her slayer sisters. Kennedy was born for this. Some slayers perished and Willow felt their souls pass on. As Buffy was stabbed Willow could feel her rage but she was still lying helpless on the floor of Robin's office overwhelmed. Only a small amount of fear began to seep into her mind before she felt Buffy rally and in turn rally the rest of those fighting with her.

Willow attempted to rally herself next but then she felt it. She felt Spike's soul. His essence washed over her. She'd always known there was more to the violent, sarcastic, and defensive vampire from five years ago. In his history he was unique in so many ways which had always intrigued, if not terrified, her. Since gaining his soul he was more reserved and now she knew why. The love, guilt, rage, pain, hope . . . it was all too much. How could he stand it? Through proximity she could read his demon as well. He reveled in the violence and didn't care that it was against other demons. He was an adrenaline junky and aroused by the violence. This why he was able to stomach helping them for years without a soul. She couldn't feel the other demons in the school but she'd bet they were nothing like Spike's. His demon craved acceptance and attention as much as the soul. The rage his demon felt being near so many slayers paled in comparison to everything else Spike felt. She wanted to delve deeper but was jolted out of her exploration when her chest started to burn, seeing nothing to explain the sensation.

Suddenly a burst of light broke through the floor and up through the ceiling. With a start she realized the pain belonged to Spike and with that came the knowledge that this light was coming from the amulet he wore and that it was powered by his soul. His demon did little to mar the soul's purity as evidenced by the brilliance of the light cleansing the Hellmouth. The guilt his past gave him was lessened when he was finally able to feel his soul and relief prompted tears of joy to fall from her closed eyes. Those same eyes were jolted open when the ground started to shake violently.

Soon Kennedy was there helping her out of the crumbling building. They made it onto the bus and shortly thereafter Faith jumped in and told Robin to gun it but Buffy wasn't on the bus. Dawn was desperately looking out the window for her but Willow could still feel Buffy and she was on the move. Spike was still in the high school though and just as she reached out to feel him an intense pain radiated through her. Spike had been consumed by fire and the town was falling behind them. The grief she felt at his loss was surprisingly painful. After getting a small peak at his soul, she knew what the world had just lost.

She almost missed Buffy jumping onto the roof of the bus she was so lost in thought. The bus stopped and she looked towards the back window. What once was Sunnydale was now a crater and just as she adjusted to the scene she saw the Welcome to Sunndyale sign fall. Relief helped shake her from grief as she climbed out of the bus to join the others who were discussing what happened. When Buffy said Spike's name the still present power reached towards him. She could still feel him. Why could she still feel him?

Examining what happened in the last few minutes, she realized she never felt his soul pass on. His body had been burnt up but his soul was still somewhere buried in the crater he created. Was he in pain? No . . . she didn't feel pain anymore, just confusion. A smile broke onto her face and she joined in the revelry of her friends, deciding to keep this information to herself until she knew what it meant. They defeated the First and a world of possibilities was now open. This morning none of them knew if they'd survive and some of them hadn't. As everyone discussed what to do next she silently decided what her next course of action would be. She would retrieve the one fallen soldier whose soul didn't pass on. She would save Spike from wherever he was trapped.

They all realized they had to find someplace to go and she was relieved to find she had remembered to grab her cellphone and her wallet before leaving the house. Deciding to wear pants with decent pockets was a good choice.

"Guys . . . Guys . . . Xander . . . Giles . . . GUYS!!" she finally shouted. The assembled group finally quit their chatter at her yell. "Let's all get back on the bus. Some of us need real medical attention and I'm not up on where the closest hospital outside of Sunnydale is. We all need a place to stay and regroup. There is a motel a few miles up the road and those of us not in need of help can get some rooms, rest, and figure out where to go next. Then one of us can drive to a hospital, pick up food, and supplies in the bus. I'm so amped up from the spell I don't think I could sleep right now so I'm volunteering. I'll pick up a cell phone charger and everyone can check in with me. Anyone have a problem with that?" Buffy and Faith just smiled at her bossiness before everyone proceed to go about their chores.

 

By 11pm she was staring at the ceiling of a motel room still wired. The power she felt after the spell had yet to fade much and she was unsure it would at this point. Part of her wanted it to but another part hoped it wouldn't. Deciding not to dwell on such terrifying thoughts, she reflected on the last few hours of activity. It only took 15 minutes to get to the nearest motel and since recent events kept people away from Sunnydale, there was enough room for the group. After getting directions from the clerk she drove the wounded to a nearby hospital. Some needed to be patched up while others needed to be admitted. While the wounded were tended to she made phone calls and gathered supplies.

Her parents were in South America and hadn't even heard about Sunnydale yet. When she called they told her they would email the necessary insurance documents for the house and car, instructing her to keep the money. Apparently, her mother had received an amazing job offer at a university in Brazil and they did not intend on coming back to the states to manage their affairs for a couple months at the earliest. The "massive sinkhole" was seen as convenient to them. Next she called the Hyperion to tell Angel that a second front wasn't needed after all. She knew it should probably be Buffy who called but sadly she doubted the slayer would remember to inform him.

He had thanked her for calling and was relieved everyone was ok. She mentioned the power of the amulet had consumed Spike and Angel's only response was a quiet, "oh". Had he sensed his grandchilde dying or did he feel nothing since Spike was really just trapped and not dead? Maybe he did and just didn't care. She hoped she was wrong but then again she was pretty sure the last time they actually interacted was when Spike paid someone to torture Angel for the gem of Amara. Plus, the whole Buffy thing probably didn't turn Angel into a big fluffy puppy either. Angel made his dislike of Spike known but Spike was on the side of good, had a soul, had just saved the world, and was family. In fact, he had helped save the world three times when he didn't have a soul. Hesitantly she reached toward Spike and felt his soul still waiting in Sunnydale but that's all she could tell at such a distance.

After all her calls and shopping she drove back to the hospital to check on the admitted girls and pick up the ones who had been discharged. Kennedy had only gotten a few stitches but had decided to stay to watch over the others. As Willow had gleaned earlier, Kennedy's protectiveness had been amplified and there was no way she'd leave them. Robin had still been in surgery but they'd been assured someone would call with an update.

Once back at the hotel Giles, Buffy, Xander, Faith, Dawn, and her all met to discuss next steps. She was pleased all the sleeping arrangements had been taken care of in her absence and that Giles was able to speak with some contacts in England. He had spoken with the coven and it was decided that Xander, Dawn, Andrew, and he would take the girls to a surviving property of the Council large enough to house and train the new slayers in Scotland. As one of the only surviving members of the council it was at his disposal. Buffy and Faith would start traveling to find the new slayers. The more seriously wounded would receive instructions once they were ready to travel. As their meeting wound down Giles told her to contact the coven as they had mentioned needing to speak with her. He had informed them that he had first needed her help to get them settled before calling them back. She was a little annoyed but knew his priorities were in the right place.

An hour of discussion and planning had been enough to send everyone towards much needed rest. Assignments for the next day had been handed out. Passports would need to be acquired and other arrangements would need to be made. She briefly mentioned she had contacted Angel to let him know the status and then headed back to her room.

She pulled herself from her thoughts and reached for her phone. Time to call the coven. It was early in the morning there but she needed to speak with them about her new power and Spike. It probably wasn't the best idea to keep everyone out of the loop about Spike but her reasoning was two-fold. She didn't want to get anyone's hopes up and she didn't want to see the possible disinterest either. Many of her group wouldn't see saving him as a priority, even if he just saved the world. Now was the time to get some answers.

"Willow," answered a voice after two rings.

"Althenea. Hi. Giles told me to call."

"Yes, we have a few things to discuss. Are you okay to talk now? I know you must be tired." Willow missed her friends from the coven and needed their grounding energy right now.

"Yes. Now is good. I'm exhausted but there is no way I can sleep right now. Since the spell I've been wired like a good motherboard." She was nervous that the power she'd tapped into was somehow wrong. She knew it wasn't but after almost destroying the world you tend to second guess yourself. Althenea giggled at her strange simile and the sound helped put her more at ease.

"I would imagine so. We all sensed the power while you completed the spell. There was no darkness in it thought so I knew you hadn't gone to the 'veiny place' as you put it," she informed happily. Willow was relieved.

"Oh Althenea, you have no idea. For the first time in a long time I relinquished all control and it was . . . was . . " Althenea chucked under her breath while Willow tried to think of how to put all of it into words.

"Willow, we've known how special you are for a long time and knew you'd play an important part in this battle. We are so proud of you." Pride was evident in her voice and Willow could almost see her friend's soft encouraging smile. The middle-aged witch had been her mentor while rehabilitating from the dark power, grief, and rage that had consumed her, and nearly ended the world, last year when Tara was murdered. She was a trusted friend and Willow was indebted to her and the coven for not only helping save her but helping them save the world.

"Thank you Althenea," she said with genuine gratitude.

"You're welcome Willow. Now, onto what I wanted to speak with you about. Since the spell how have you felt?"

"To be honest I'm not sure how to describe it. Althenea, I was able to feel everyone's soul and I still can," she said half giddy and half worried. "I suppose in order to awaken all the potentials' power, their essence had to be touched and changed by the spell but . . . was this supposed to happen?"

"We knew it was a risk but it had to be done. I'm sorry if this is overwhelming for you but I'm glad you've already made the connection between the mechanics of the spell and this new ability."

"Ability?," Willow questioned quickly. "You mean this isn't going to go away?"

"It will fade. Now that you've confirmed our suspicions about your reaction to the spell, we believe the Powers that Be have gifted this skill to help you continue your fight against evil. The intensity of it will fade but the skill is something that will not leave. You'll need to learn how to use it."

"What?" she asked nervously. "Wha . . what . . . what do they want with me? They have a new army of slayers for their fight." She could feel herself starting to panic. She'd just completed the biggest magical challenge of her life and she was scared of what would be required of her next.

Sensing her fears, Althenea started to explain in a soothing voice. "Willow, calm down. You just changed the game entirely and they want to help you continue your work. You're a full-fledged champion now. You don't have to be physically strong or use violence to be a champion. This is a good thing." Stunned would be putting Willow's emotional state lightly.

"Oh," she squeaked out. She was a little scared and a little overheated from her panic. Was she sweating now? Ew. "Ok, so I can feel souls . . . what now?"

"Get some sleep Willow. If you're too wired at least try to meditate."

She started to consider finding some pajamas before she remembered. "Wait, I need to ask you about Spike." If they knew about her new power maybe the Powers that Be had told them about Spike and how to help him.

"The ensouled vampire who wore the amulet?," Althenea asked.

"Yes, he didn't make it out of the Hellmouth. He was destroyed by the amulet."

"Yes. Giles informed us of that. I'm sure the Powers that Be consider that a loss." Althenea sounded confused but was trying to be sympathetic.

"Well, here's the thing. I can still feel his soul."

"What?," asked the shocked witch on the other end of the line.

"I can still feel him. The souls of the others who fell passed on. His didn't and for some reason it's still in the Hellmouth."

"But . . . wait . . . what?" She paused for a moment and then began again. "So you're saying Spike is still alive, well undead, but stuck under the rubble of Sunnydale?" She sounded as confused as Willow did.

"No, I meant it when I said he was destroyed. I felt his body burn up and turn to ash but his soul is still there. He's stuck somehow. I can tell he is conscious but not much more." Not knowing if he was okay was starting to bother her. Now that she didn't have errands to run she had time to think about what he could be experiencing.

"Huh . . . well . . . huh. Rupert said you were miles away. You can feel him from that distance?"

"From the hotel yes but as I get farther away it's harder."

"Can you feel anyone else that far away?"

"If I try very hard yes but only vaguely. His soul is easy to reach and pick out but I can't feel his emotions or sense how he's doing. I'm not sure if that means he's okay or if I'm just too far. What are you thinking Althenea?"

Over the next 45 minutes of discussion Althenea had left her with lots to think about and a promise to consult the rest of the coven. However their back and forth speculations brought them to a few solid suspicions. They reasoned that the Powers that Be had given her new power so she'd be able to help Spike. He was the only one she could feel at a long distance and his soul was the only one of the fallen soldiers not to pass on. Althenea had agreed the amulet had been powered by his soul and figured he was somehow trapped in the amulet. While Althenea did her own research, Willow would contact Angel. He had given the amulet to Buffy and he may be able to help. Now it was 12am and time to finally sleep.

 

As she closed her eyes she reached toward Spike with the hope that if he could feel her he would find comfort. After what only felt like 20 minutes her eyes flew open again. She had been dreaming but it felt real. Was it real? She ran through what she experienced and realized that during her slumber she had been in the amulet with Spike. He was not happy at all. A hyperactive vampire who had just died was stuck in a small black room with no idea what was going on. She tried calming him as much as she could but he couldn't hear her. He ranted for a long time and she could tell he wanted to break something or hit something but there was nothing for him to smash. He needed out of there fast. She rolled over to look at the alarm clock and she'd only been asleep a few minutes. Hopefully Angel was still up this late because she definitely needed to talk to him. She grabbed her newly charged phone and quickly dialed Angel's cell number so as to avoid having to small talk anyone else currently awake at the Hyperion.

"What?," a voice she thought was Angel's growled.

"Angel?," she asked timidly. Ever since Angelus any kind of aggression from Angel put her on edge.

"Shit! Willow?," Angel asked sounding contrite.

"Yeah Angel it's me."

"Damn. Sorry. I didn't look at the caller ID. Now's not a really good time. Is it urgent?" Now he sounded annoyed.

"Do you consider your grandchilde's soul being trapped in an amulet buried in a destroyed Hellmouth urgent?," she asked returning his annoyed air. There was a long pause as if Angel was debating the answer, which was pretty disappointing.

"How soon can you get here?," he asked. That was more like it but was traveling farther from the amulet the smartest idea?

"Angel, can't we just talk on the phone?"

"Look, things are complicated here and I don't want you to be able to hang up on me." What did that mean? Why was he always so cryptic?

"Um . . . ok. Well this is important so I guess I'm coming to you. It's the middle of the night so I'll have to wait till morning to find a car. The only vehicle available to me at the moment is a school bus."

"What?," he asked sounding almost amused.

"Remember that whole Hellmouth being destroyed thing? We didn't exactly have time to get our cars or belongings when we were fleeing the destruction."

"Oh right . . . I can help with that. Give me the name of the hotel and I'll call you right back." She told him the name and city then he hung up quickly. Ten minutes later her phone rang.

"Hello," she answered.

"Willow, a rental car will be at the hotel in an hour. I'll explain when you get here."

After a few rounds of questions and no answers Willow gave up on getting them till she could unleash her resolve face in person. Resigned, she took a quick shower and gathered her belongings before heading to see Giles to tell him she was leaving. A rumpled Giles answered the door.

"Willow, what is it?," he asked groggily.

"Giles, I need to get to L.A. to see Angel. It's about Spike."

"What?," he asked more confused.

"Right. So I'm going to give you a quick explanation and no interrupting. Ok?" He gestured for her to continue. "During the spell yesterday I had to touch the soul of every potential in order to awaken the slayer in them." His eyes became a little more alert now. "After the spell I could feel all of the souls in the battle. If they fell I felt their soul pass on but Spike's never did. His body is gone but his soul is trapped in the amulet that's now buried back in Sunnydale. I spoke with Althenea last night and she agrees with my conclusions. The coven knew this spell had the potential of leaving me with this power. I can only feel souls within a mile radius now but the power is not going to go away. It seems it was a gift from the Powers that Be and I'm some sort of magical champion now. Our theory is that part of the reason they gave me the power was to save Spike. Since the amulet came from Angel I'm going to L.A. to figure this out. Any questions?" She finally took a breath and looked to her father figure with trepidation.

In his traditional British manner Giles sputtered for a second before saying, "I guess you best be on your way. I can handle things here and we have your cell number. I have tons of questions but they can wait. Actually wait, can you feel his soul now?"

A relieved Willow answered. "Yes. He's the only one I can feel at such a distance. While I was asleep earlier I was there with him and he's not happy. I wasn't able to calm him down but I'm not even sure he could see or hear me."

"You were in the amulet with him?" She nodded. "Good Lord . . . well I'd assume he's not taking it well. If he could see you he probably thought you were a figment of his imagination and you wouldn't have been able to get through to him. Between getting a soul, the First messing with his mind and torturing him, and the fight. You're right. This is best to handle with immediacy." She was smiling at Giles now. She'd thought he'd fight her on this. He did try to have Spike killed recently. Noticing her smile Giles added, "Spike and I have a rocky history at best but he just helped save the bloody world and died for us all. We owe him this much. I'll let everyone else know what's going on when they wake up. Call me when you get to L.A. to check-in."

"Yes Sir," she saluted chipperly. Giles rolled his eyes and went back to bed.

 

The rental car arrived and three hours later she was walking into the Hyperion. The moving boxes took her by surprise. Angel acting secretive wasn't new but she had enough mystery in her life as is.

"Hey Willow, sorry about the mess," Angel apologized. He was wearing his trademark black button down and black pants but was currently trying to wipe dust of some kind off of him. "We're moving to another building." Willow cocked her eyebrow suspiciously at the vague statement. Angel smiled and shook his head. "Alright, why don't you take a seat and I'll grab you some water. Then we'll catch each other up."

Willow remained silent as Angel ushered her to sit on the weird circular couch in the lobby and then brought her a bottle of water. She took this time to use her new power and reached out to Angel's soul. His soul was there. In fact, now that she was in front of a person while using her power, she noticed she could see an aura around him. The inside was a peachy orange color with two vivid green lines and the outside a dingy gray. She could also feel the presence of his demon quietly seething beneath the surface. Unlike Spike's Demon, Angel's was just rage and bloodlust. No wonder Angelus was so brutal.

Angel sat and told her his story. As he spoke the gray surrounding his soul grew darker. If she had to guess she'd say the gray was his guilt. Between Jasmine, Cordelia, Connor, and joining Wolfram & Hart he was in a state of turmoil. When he was finished he looked at her a bit stunned. "Willow, I'm not sure why I spilled all of that to you. I'm pretty sure you aren't even supposed to remember Connor at this point. I'm sorry for placing that burden on you."

"Actually Angel, I do remember him. I'm not sure why but I do. Are you going to be okay?," she asked. Her heart broke a little bit for him. The dark gray of his guilt was now surrounding a burnt orange color. His soul was literally tinged with his grief. The green was brighter than the rest, only slightly dimmed. Why were those pieces not affected in the same way?

Angel looked up and blinked tears from his eyes. "As long as Connor is I will be," he answered. "Thank you for being such a good friend Willow. You've done so much for me. I'm not sure why you can remember but I'm honestly not surprised. You've always seen more than any of us.  Now tell me what happened and how I can help."

Willow smiled at his thanks and warmed at his rare compliment. When Buffy wasn't around to distract him Angel was easier to talk to. "First let me just ask. Are you sure about Wolfram & Hart? I know they gave Connor a new life, gave us the amulet to close the Hellmouth for good, and have made some big promises. Are you sure about this Angel?"

"Wolfram & Hart gave us this office to run and I'm trying to use their resources for good. I know this looks bad but after everything that happened recently I decided to take the risk and try to do good on a larger scale. If you're worried about my soul it's still here."

 "I believe you Angel. Long story as well but I can see your soul." It was strong with conviction and resolve but stained with guilt. The brooding was definitely not an act. Knowing she was dealing with Angel and not Angelus soothed a little bit of her worry.  His shocked and confused face made her giggle. "You remember that scythe Buffy had when you saw her at that temple?," she asked. Angel nodded so she continued. " Well I did a spell using the power of the scythe to turn all potentials slayers into full-fledged slayers." She heard him mumble something she suspected must be a curse of some kind. "Yeah, tall order." She laughed nervously hoping she wouldn't see the disapproval of her using magic like she'd gotten use to seeing.

Angel just gestured for her to continue. "During the spell I touched the souls of all the potential slayers. I was left with a power to see souls. I'm not sure what else I can do with this new skill but the coven said they believe the Powers that Be meant for me to use it to save Spike. It appears we are both champions now." She lowered her head at that because it still seemed too much to process. "Anyway, when the amulet started working I could feel Spike's soul powering it and then I felt him die." Out of nowhere Willow started crying. Maybe it was just overload from everything that had happened or maybe it was the fact that recalling the pain Spike had gone through, when she had time to process it, was overwhelmingly horrifying. Angel's hand was now on hers, offering comfort. "The power of the amulet and Spike's soul closed the Hellmouth for good and Sunnydale is now a crater. I felt the souls of all those who died pass on except for Spike. When I realized this I reached out and I could feel that his soul was still there buried in Sunnydale."

Angel squeezed her hand and she looked up. For how much time they'd spent near each other in the past they hadn't spent a lot of time just the two of them. "Can you tell anything else about his state?," he asked.

Willow reached out reflexively and confirmed Spike's soul was still in Sunnydale before looking down at their still joined hands. Then she gasped. "Willow, what's wrong? Is William okay?" The use of Spike's Christian name caused her to look up in surprise. As her new revelation spun in her head she gaped at Angel and decided to ponder his use of the name.

"I don't know. I can't tell his emotional state from this distance. In fact, he's the only one I can feel from this far. Which is another reason we think I have this power to help him. Ironically, it seems fitting since the first spell I learned was giving you your soul."  Angel nodded but gave her a searching look.

"Why did you gasp then?," he asked.

She quickly let go of Angel's hand and reached for her water. After taking a sip she lied her ass off. "I just remembered I forgot to tell my girlfriend I left the group and came here." She took another sip of water. Angel didn't look convinced but she needed to get them back on track. There wasn't time for any distractions.  "Is there anyway you can search Wolfram & Hart's files for mentions of the amulet?"

"I'll help however I can Willow. I may have my issues in regards to Spike but I can see how his actions were that of a champion. If the Powers that Be didn't want him rescued they wouldn't have given you these powers at the same time. I was a little wary of what the amulet would do since Wolfram & Hart gave it to me but it appears the Powers that Be were prepared for this. Which, if you've ever dealt with them, is surprisingly straight forward." He let out a sardonic laugh. "Why don't you get some rest in one of the rooms we haven't packed up yet and I'll make some calls to get the ball rolling. "

He showed her to a room on the second floor and found her some clean linens to remake the bed. She hadn't slept more than 5 hours in the last 72 and the extra energy she'd gotten from the spell was finally fading. Soon she was fast asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spike and Willow spend time together in the amulet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter was from Willow's POV. This one is from Spike's. Not every chapter will change POV or include only one POV. In general the only characters I'll be doing this with are Willow, Spike, and Angel.  
> The one downfall of this site is that I get distracted by other fic when I should be writing. However, I know how badly it sucks when you get invested in a story and it just stops. This is the benefit of the site because now the pressure is on me to actually finish writing instead of re-writing like I've done for months. Anyway, maid of honor and wedding singing duties await me this coming weekend but hopefully I'll still have time to get some writing done.

"Spike? Spike?  . . . . It's me Willow." A tremulous feminine voice woke him. From his spot curled up on the floor he saw what looked like Willow a few feet away. He quickly scrambled away from her and turned his back. That wasn't Willow. He'd died and this was hell. If there was one place the red haired witch belonged, it wasn't hell.

"Spike. Can you hear me?," it asked. Hearing her voice after hours, or days, of silence would've sounded sweet and soothing if he wasn't 95% sure she was only there to torment him. Regardless of how much he'd changed and the good he did recently he knew he was going to hell. 

It must've been because he'd just woken up because he didn't hear her approach until her hand touched his back. "No. What? No," he growled as he stood up and put distance between them.

"Spike . . " she said again as if he was a wounded calf. "I know this is confusing and has to be horrible for you but it's really me. After getting your soul back and the first messing with you I know you're not going to trust me right now. You're stuck in the amulet." She kept trying to move closer with her hands out but he just kept inching away. There were no walls here. He could run as far and as long as he wanted but it was as if he hadn't moved. Black walls, black floor, no sounds but him, no echo, no wind, no temperature change, nothing but some unknown light source he couldn't outrun. This place would drive a sane person crazy and he hadn't felt fully sane in a very long time. "I'm so sorry, Spike." She was crying. "I'm so sorry you died and you're stuck here but I'm going to get you out of here."

"No," he growled again. "Go away. You're not her." He began to pace like a caged lion. At least when the First tormented him before it appeared as Buffy or Drusilla. Willow was a symbol of hope for him and always had been. If this was the First that meant Willow was dead and the world was doomed. If this wasn't the first it meant his hell was customized. Either way he wanted it gone. "Please, not her," he pleaded. "Anyone but her. Please."

"Spike, please don't cry. It's me I promise." He roared in rage and started to pace with his hands tightly squeezed behind his neck. She reached out to him again but he slapped her hand away and looked at her with confused horror. If this was the First it meant it was powerful enough to be corporeal now.  Which meant he could at least get his rage out. Even if it wouldn't do any good in the long run.

Without another thought he lunged at the being who dared wear Willow's face. Before he could get his hands on her he was suddenly bound by an invisible field similar to a spell he'd seen Willow do before. The fake Willow had her hands raised and her red hair now had white streaks in it. "Spike, please calm down. I'm going to need you to work with me if we're going to get you out of here. It's really me. The coven, myself, Giles, and Angel's team are all working on it." Angel would never help him. The creature's intel was old or it didn't really know their history. Just thinking about Angel caused the restless and desperate rage to build up again and his demon visage came to the fore as he thrashed.

"I know you're not his biggest fan," she continued, " but he's the one who gave us the amulet you're trapped in and he's offered his resources to help rescue you." He scoffed and thrashed some more. "Shhh, shhhh," she tried. "I'm sorry I'm upsetting you. I'm trying to help you I promise. Spike . . . William." He paused at the use of his Christian name and looked at her with rage still evident on his face. "Please, tell me what I can do to prove I'm me." He stilled to actually give that thought and she reached out to touch his face. What possible test was there for her to prove it? If she thought touch would do it, she hadn't thought it through as thoroughly as him.

"Willow or whatever you are. I have no way of knowing who or what you are for sure." Tears were starting to form from his mental frustration and the familiarity of the situation. "I've thought this bloody through." He hung his head and continued. Being angry wasn't making it go away and serving no purpose. "I've been here for what feels like days by myself. You came before but were gone so quickly I thought it was really Willow at first. But then I knew I was wrong. The First won. You're corporeal again. Everyone I love is dead and now you're torturing me. If you're the First please be anyone but her. Please." If it wouldn't leave maybe it would at least change forms.

"Spike I don't know how to convince you." The sweet desperation in her voice brought back the tears he'd been able to hold at bay since she'd woken him. "We won. We won and you closed the Hellmouth. Everyone is safe. We lost Anya." Spike's gut clenched at that but fake Willow kept talking. Working herself into a babble. "Buffy and Dawn are fine. I know how much you love them and they are okay I promise. I'm not dead. I'm not the First. Besides why would the First use me? Other than threatening to turn me a couple of times we've never been that close." His gut clenched again but with guilt this time. "Seriously, why Spike?  I mean Buffy said it had shown you her before. If that was effective before it would keep doing that or it would really go for the pain and show you Dawn. But Dawn is alive. She's giving Buffy shit already. Robin's in the hospital but even Andrew made it. You saved us Spike."

Her voiced calmed him, slowing his tears, and since there was no point in fighting it he just listened to her continue. What she was saying was a nice distraction at least. "The Powers that Be gave me a spanking new power." He lifted his head and arched his eyebrow at her in reflex. She smiled and giggled. A damn fine distraction indeed. "I can feel and read souls. I felt you while you were fighting, when the amulet started to burn you, and when you died. I felt it all . . . your love for Buffy and Dawn . . . your guilt . . . your intelligence and sensitive side you hide from everyone. I even felt your demon and his bloodlust. You hide so much and your soul is so beautiful."

The fake Willow was crying again. Crying on his behalf? If this was hell why was it showing him good things. "I will get you out," she pledged. "I can't let you suffer like this. The coven thinks I was given the ability to save you. They've basically named me a champion and since you were able to use the amulet I know they want you as a champion too. We need you Spike. Please believe me."  

For a moment confused and desperate blue eyes locked with hopeful green ones. Fuck it he thought. Why not go along with fake Willow and at least have some decent company. As long as it didn't attack him he could see no reason to not just go along with it. If nothing else he could possibly gather some information in case there actually was a way out of this place. After a deep breath he said, "Alright then. Let me down and tell me what's next." Fake Willow released the bonds skeptically and he fell to the floor. He settled with his knees drawn up and his arms behind him, supporting his weight, while his feet tapped immediately. No smokes or blood in here wasn't helping.

Sitting cross legged in front of him, fake Willow began to speak again. "So, right now I'm actually in L.A. but it turns out that when I'm asleep I end up here with you. You've only been in here for around 12 hours." Twelve hours? Really? It felt like it was much more than that. At his expression she asked, "How long has it been for you?" The familiarity of the phrase made him glare at her. If he had to put up with reminders of his failures he wouldn't be able to play possum.

"Days," he answered tersely.

"Right," she sighed heavily. "Looks like time moves differently here. When I was here before I'm pretty sure it felt like 20 minutes but when I woke up I'd only been asleep for around 5."

"Bugger," he responded flatly. Since she was fake and this was eternal it didn't really matter did it.

"Has anything changed since you've been in here? Are you hurt? Are you ok other than the obvious suckiness of being stuck in here?," she asked.

He felt his mouth try to smile at the Willowness of her question but then remembered and the ghost of a smile disappeared. "No pet. Nothing. It' been bloody hell. It's been days since I saw you and that's the only thing that's changed. After Buffy ran out I went up in flames and woke up here. That's all I Know."

"You're fine physically though?"

He took a moment to think about it but since he'd been undead and unchanging for over a century it was a pretty easy question to answer. "Um . . yeah. Nothing singed. It was pain then nothingness." He hung his head down and felt fake Willow's hand stroking his hair. Without thought he leaned into the touch and his demon literally purred. Comfort was being offered and his body responded regardless of all rational arguments against it. After a minute or two he lifted his head away. "Sorry Red. No contact since dying and mostly fighting before that. Thank you." He could appreciate comfort even from a ghost of a friend.

"I'm just glad I'm able to help. I'm not sure how long it'll take me to get you out but time is going faster here. We've got to get you out before you go crazy." Laughing bitterly was the only response that made sense. She looked at him sadly. "We will Spike. We will. Angel's team has a lot of resources. Now if I could just figure out how to help you while I'm awake and researching." She suddenly had an expression of realization and happiness. In the next moment she magically produced a deck of cards and a small cd player. Shock and then a pleased smile flashed across his face before fake Willow took him off guard and hugged him.

"You're not dead," he lied. "But even if you are I'm going to enjoy the reprieve while it lasts." He felt her small chuckle but she made no move to disentangle herself. It was possible, if this Willow wasn't fake, that she needed comfort too. It sure felt like she did.

The real Willow hadn't been the same since Tara died. Part of him knew it was because of the grief and the almost world ending magic binge he'd missed. The other part of him knew it was probably due to loneliness and being touch starved. Yes, the witch had Kennedy now but the chemistry was nothing compared to what she had with Tara. The majority of the scooby meetings he'd gone too ended up with him just watching the two birds. His demon craved love as much as his soul did and without Dru or Buffy he'd had to live vicariously through Willow. Hell, even with Buffy he'd been just as lonely and touch starved as he suspected Willow had been. If this was Willow that meant Kennedy was now a slayer and would be consumed with her calling. He hoped Willow would have enough self-worth to demand a present partner. A slayer and a witch could make it work but if the self-righteous, self-isolating behavior was an ingrained slayer trait then Willow would end up being just as disregarded as he and Captain Cardboard had been.

 

 

He wasn't sure how long it had been but suddenly he jolted awake still in fake Willow's arms. At some point he'd fallen asleep and his human facade returned. Turns out weeks of turmoil, fighting, and then dying only to be stuck in some kind of hell was enough to throw him so off kilter he actually fell asleep in someone else arms. Since his soul it had only happened right before he died. Before, when he was just a demon, well  . . . he'd rather not think about that.  Fake Willow moved her hand up and down his back gently.

Spike removed himself from the embrace. "Sorry Pet." He cleared his throat. "How much longer till you wake up back in L.A.?," he asked.

She sheepishly tucked her hair behind her ears. "No idea. Not sure if I'm actually getting restorative rest while I'm in here." Her brow furrowed in thought. "I don't want to leave you alone in here so I'm hoping I can bring whatever research books I need here and use the speed of time to our advantage. If that's possible then maybe I can just stay asleep. I wonder if I have to be asleep or if I can just will myself here and back with concentration. Like when I teleported before." Since when could Red teleport?

"What?," he asked.

Fake Willow suddenly looked embarrassed and flushed with what looked like shame. "One of the magics I played with when I went evil. You know when you were all busy fighting for your soul and I was trying to lose mine." She hung her head and looked to be fighting back angry tears. "Anyway," she said with faux cheerfulness,"I'll have to see if I can come and go at will or if I have to be sleeping. If I can, hopefully I can bring snacks and eat in here so I can stay longer."

As soon as she said 'eat' Spike's forgotten hunger made itself known. There were only a few seconds of a recognizable ache in his mouth before his fangs dropped and a low growl started in his chest. Bollocks.

"Spike, you okay?," she asked concerned. "Did I say something wrong?" She stared as he tried to control his hunger. It had been days since he fed. Previously he'd assumed being dead would have quelled his hunger and precluded him from the need for sustenance. His demon felt like it was pushing against his skin, trying to get him to bite into the woman before him. Unfortunately for them both, she was most likely not a woman at all. There would be nothing in her that would quench his thirst. However, his demon was spouting impressively filthy insults at being kept from a woman he'd hungered for for years. There was a reason he'd tried turning her twice. Bleeding hell.

"Leave," he growled. Instead, the stupid bint reached out towards him again. "Are you daft?," he barked out before jumping to his feet and putting distance between them. He paced while trying to convince his demon that the specter wouldn't provide any of the things he was looking for. The plethora of images his demon was forcing into his imagination were both startling and arousing. He turned away. "Red, get out of here before my demon decides to make you his first meal in days."

A squeak of alarm came from behind him. "Fuck," she breathed and he chuckled darkly at the rare curse. "Okay, time to test that theory. I'm going to try to will myself back, raid Angel's stash, and be back." The demon, who was already close to overpowering his reason, growled even louder. "Fine, I'll try not to say the A word Spike," she sighed. "Be right back hopefully." A look of concentration came over her features before she faded away.

Well that was a bucket of laughs. Was her entire purpose to lull him into some sense of security, awaken his hunger, and then leave? If he didn't get some blood soon he might drain her just to see what happened. While he waited he walked to the cd player she'd produced and pressed play. To his amusement the Sex Pistols started playing. He'd never tried music therapy to curb his appetite but he'd learned to make due with what he had a long time ago. The third song was playing when fake Willow faded back into his little corner of hell with a bag slung over her shoulders.

She looked down at her hands and the second f-bomb he'd ever heard from her slipped out. "Fuck. The blood was in my hands." Her return and the word blood evoked a growl from his no longer distracted demon. "Bloody hell!" Quite literally, if she didn't leave soon. "Leave," he warned.

"No," she barked back before stooping down to turn the music off. "We'll figure this out." Now she was pacing. "I was able to bring myself here, magic in a cd player, and bring a bag of supplies with me but blood is somehow a no go."  A few more seconds of pacing and she stopped and turned to look at him. "Blood is life."

"We've been over this before Pet," he bit out annoyed at her continued presence taunting his hungry demon.

"Yes, but if the amulet is meant to keep life from getting in or out then it wouldn't let blood in."

"And this is your way of admitting you don't have blood and you're not alive," he sarcastically snarled.

"No, I'm special obviously," she rolled her eyes at him. "Let me try something." She sat down cross legged and closed her eye in concentration. When she opened them she swore for a third time. This ghost didn't do great research. "Shit. Magicking blood doesn't work either. If I'm the only blood that can come in . . " she trailed off and touched her neck nervously. His demon lunged forward again and he stopped himself just in the nick of time.

"Look Witch," he angrily started, "either you have blood pumping in those veins and should leave to protect it or you're here to torment me. Which means it doesn't matter if I bite you. You're either going to leave now or my demon is going to overpower what little control I do have and bite you. Make your goddamn choice." 

To his surprise fake Willow took a deep breath, walked closer, bent her head and moved her hair to one side, baring her neck. "I trust you not to take too much William. Plus, I can magically kick your ass if needed." Fake Willow had a good resolve face and the invitation was too much for him to ignore.

In two strides she was in his arms and his mouth was descending. A vampire could choose to make a bite painful or pleasurable and he had the presence of mind to choose pleasure just in case this really was Willow. In fact, he'd know for sure shortly. With her head supported by his hand, he licked the column of her throat to coax the blood closer to the surface. She tasted real, right, and like she did the two times he'd gotten close before. He gently sank his fangs into her neck. Ambrosia hit his tongue and, like it always did, went straight to his cock. Starbursts lit up behind closed eyes as he drank deeper. It was the most delicious blood he could remember tasting. It was sweeter than the Asian slayer, richer than the principal's mum, and smoother than any bloodsharing he'd done with other vampires. On top of it magic crackled like pop rocks against his tongue. So lost in the pleasure of it he almost missed the moans coming from the woman he was drinking from. Then with horror he realized this was truly Willow and tore his mouth from her staggering backwards.

"Willow," he gasped. "It's really you. Bleeding hell. I could've killed you. Have you gone completely sack of hammers?" He was needlessly panting in panic. Then he took in her dazed appearance and the blood trickling from the still open wounds. "Sorry luv," he breathed out before gathering her back into his arms. She was still breathing heavily as he used his tongue to clean and close the bite, tasting the hint of lust in her blood. At least he'd made it good for her.

He pulled her head down to his shoulder and caressed her hair. "I'm so sorry I didn't believe you Red but I do now. Wish there had been an easier way to prove it." Suddenly she slumped in his arms. "Willow, luv," he whispered. She didn't answer but her heart beat was steady. She'd only fallen asleep. Treating her like spun glass, he maneuvered her down to the ground and into his arms. She was pillowed against his chest and he used his rolled up duster.

There was so much to think about. He was actually stuck in the amulet with a chance to return to his life and the tiny but powerful witch in his arms would make it happen. He should be elated, and he was, but the exhaustion of everything that had happened, plus a warm body curled up to him and a delicious meal of magical blood . . . 

Soon they were both asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

A growl and the sound of something breaking startled Willow awake, bolting upright and gasping. A vamped out Angel was next to the bed growling with drywall around his bleeding fist. Apparently falling asleep in the amulet meant she left it or maybe something else. This was her first time going in and out of a mystical object. Either way, she was back in her room in the Hyperion confused and a little scared. She reached out with her power and his soul was there. The peachy color of it was a bit darker, the guilt gray was faded and overpowered by a pulsing maroon. The two green lines she was suspicious of, unchanging except their location. If she had to guess, she'd say the maroon was probably rage of some kind. The presence of his soul calmed her slightly but in the face of an enraged Angel her heart was pounding.

"What the fuck did that bastard do to you?," he snarled. She was momentarily confused until she saw his gaze drop to her neck and growl once more.

Instantly her hand flew to the bite and confirmed it hadn't been a dream. The two raised puncture wounds didn't feel ragged or swollen. There was no pain and when she pulled her fingers away to look there was no blood. The bite had already healed mostly. The bite that almost made her cum. Holy Moly. Between reading the off limits Watcher's Diaries, Riley's voluntary stint as a blood bag, and the drug Faith had taken to trap Angelus, Willow knew that humans could receive pleasure from a bite but she assumed it would have hurt like it did when Harmony bit her. Was there something wrong with her? Did she care if there was? When his fangs had entered her it was as if pleasure shot through her veins from her neck and straight to all the naughty bits that were supposed to be for Kennedy only. However, that quirked eyebrow and lip biting smirk of Spike's had caused reactions in her before. Oz, Spike and Angel were the only men she was attracted to, if she were to be brutally honest with herself. Normally she wasn't that honest with herself due to the guilt those feelings brought on.

"Willow, can you please explain why there are bite marks on your neck and Spike's scent all over you?," Angel asked impatiently. To her it was rather obvious but Angel always thought the worst. Considering his history she really couldn't blame his pessimism but she hoped one day the others wouldn't jump to the worst case scenario whenever Spike was involved.

She subconsciously got up on the side opposite Angel and patiently babbled her explanation with the buffer of the bed between them. "He hadn't fed in days and I wasn't able to get any blood into the amulet. I can bring anything else I want with me but no blood." When Angel moved to interrupt she held up her hand. "No Angel. I tried multiple ways of bringing blood in and Spike needed to feed. Also, it turned out for the best because he actually believes I'm trying to help and wasn't just the First messing with him. So, no yelling and you can put your fangs away now." His human facade returned and he looked slightly ashamed. Most likely for baring his fangs at her in the first place. The maroon had dulled and the gray deepened. She hoped he wasn't going to slip into brooding territory. 

"I see the bite is mostly healed already so I know he took care and if you'd waited till he was crazed he might have done damage. I'm not happy about this Willow but I can't fault your logic." He paused and walked around the bed closer to her. "Regardless, are you okay?," he asked with concern.

"Yeah," she answered while shyly pushing her hair behind her ears. "He didn't hurt me." She looked down, knowing she was blushing, and hoped he had the decency to not call her on it. This close she could hear him sniff the air and then growl quietly before coughing in an attempt to cover up his reaction. She looked up and saw that the maroon had turned purple and the green lines had moved again. Angel almost looked startled, if she could believe it. "Anyway, did you need something? Any news?," she asked and stepped around him to walk into the small living area outside the bedroom proper. "How long has it been since I came up here anyway?"

When she turned to look back Angel was right there. She forgot how quietly he moved but she shook off her surprise and sat on the couch to drink from a bottle of water she'd left on the coffee table.  "You've only been up here for about three hours," he answered. "I came up here because Giles called me when you didn't answer your phone. Apparently the coven found something and they called Giles when you didn't answer your phone." When she moved to interrupt he held up a hand. "Before you ask, Giles said the coven wanted to tell you before anyone else and refused to clue him in."

"Three hours?," she wondered out loud. "Huh." At the rise of Angel's eyebrow she elaborated. "Between trying to convince Spike I was real, calming him down, trying to retrieve blood, and then feeding him it only felt like an hour. Time moves faster there so if it was three hours here then I must have been asleep for awhile. I mean I feel fully rested but I'm not sure when I actually left the amulet. The last time it felt like maybe 15 or 20 minutes tops but I was only in there for maybe 5 minutes here. I think time is moving at least three times faster but I'm honestly not sure."

Angel looked concerned, probably because he knew how well Spike did with nothing to occupy himself. "Wesley and Fred should be here in the next hour. We should fill them in on all this and hopefully adding their genius brains into the mix with yours will yield some results." She smiled at him, grateful for the support and the subtle compliment.

"Thanks for letting me know Angel. I'll call them and then come find you before I head back to Spike." Angel just nodded and left the room. While his stoicism was often more frustrating than not, sometimes she was grateful for it.

It was 7am in L.A. so it was 3pm in England. She went back into the bedroom and grabbed her cell phone before sitting on the bed with a notebook and dialing the coven. As usual Althenea answered.

"Hello."

"Hi, Althenea. Angel told me you were trying to get a hold of me. What's up?," Willow asked.

"Hi Willow. We're glad to hear your voice. Mr. Giles informed us that you went to L.A. and were seeking assistance from Angel, Spike's sire," Althenea said.

"Grand-sire," Willow corrected.

'Excuse me," the elder witch asked.

"Drusilla sired Spike, not Angel," she answered.

"Technically you may be correct but Angel has all the same sire rights over Spike as Drusilla did and since they mated he became Spike's primary sire. Well until he gained his soul and disavowed Spike."

"What?!," Willow gasped, shocked. "They mated? How is it possible none of us knew this?"

Althenea sighed, "I'm not entirely positive Willow but I'm assuming once Angel regained his soul he chose to distance himself from his role in creating William the Bloody. While vampires don't have the puritanical stigma against same-sex relationships, I'm guessing Angel, being raised Irish Catholic, didn't want your group to know of his past. Additionally, I believe Spike chose to hide their past relationship as it made him look weak to have a mate who refused to kill. This is just conjecture."

"But how does the coven know this and the Watchers' Council didn't?"

"Because the coven kept has always kept it's own records and a witch ran across the mated pair in Europe during the 19th century. Drusilla frequently sought out witches wherever she went." That made sense to Willow but this was just blowing her mind.

"Um . . . wow," replied Willow lamely. "Ok. So Angel and Spike were mated . . . ".

Before she could continue Althenea corrected her. "Angel and Spike are mated. Once demons mate the bond doesn't break until one of the mates die." Willow would need to think on this more later but for the time being she needed to hear whatever the coven originally called about.

"Right. So we'll come back to all that later. What did you call about? Did you find anything," she queried.

 "Since it seems to be no coincidence that an ensouled vampire champion has been trapped at the same time a magical champion was given a power relating to souls at the same time, we decided to start looking into prophecies. There are a few prophecies about an ensouled vampire. We've all assumed they were about Angel until now." 

"Well that makes sense," Willow responded. "Does that mean the coven has studied these prophecies in the past?," she asked hopefully.

"There is a prophecy we believe could be likely. Only a few refer to the vampire and a witch. We've found one which refers to the vampire as a desired protector. The name William can either mean desire or protection. As you know Spike's name is William but it is also Angel's name, in the variant of Liam when he was human. Two ensouled vampire champions existing at the same time, in the same family, with the same name cannot be coincidence. Regardless, we believe it is Spike because it refers to this champion being imprisoned and needing the help of the pure Saileach to release him. The two will then work together in the coming apocalypse. We believe you are the pure Saileach." Althenea finally paused in her explanation.

All Willow could say was, "What?" She was use to reading prophecies, not being the subject of them. "Why do you think it's me?," she asked.

"Saileach is the Gaelic for a Willow tree. The translation of pure could refer to the purity of the magic you now possess or your hair turning white. So you do have the power to release him and you will. We are still working on how to get him out. You should work on getting the amulet out of the Hellmouth and someplace safe. That's all we have now I'm afraid. I wish we had more answers." 

Willow needed to process this. The last week has been one of the most intense of her life and it appears the Powers that Be had chosen her to endure even more. Sometimes she wished she could be old reliable again. Slip into a fuzzy pink sweater and spend her free time coding.

"Althenea I'm going to have to think about all this before I can even think of asking questions. Spike's all alone right now and I need to speak with Angel's team to gather research before heading back to the amulet."

"Of course Willow. I am sorry all of this has been placed on your shoulders but we're all so proud of you and know you'll do great things. Go be with William and remember to take care of yourself while you help others."

"Thanks. I'll call you in a couple of hours probably. I'll get started on research and a plan to get the amulet out."

"Good luck Willow," Althenea said and then hung up. Willow never understood why people didn't say goodbye but she'd gotten use to it in Althenea's case.

It was now around 7:20 and since she wanted to catch up with the team when they arrived she figured now was the perfect time to shower, change, and check-in with Giles and hopefully her girlfriend.

 

After 30 minutes of freshening up, some of which involved standing motionless under the spray while trying to wrap her mind around her possible future, she called Giles to check-in.

"Hello," answered Giles.

"Hi Giles."

"Willow, I'm glad you called. The coven filled me in on the prophecy after they spoke to you. There's much up to interpretation at this point but I think they are right. The prophecy is about you and Spike. I know you want to help him and I know you want to do your part in the fight against evil. I wish I could protect you from the fight you two are destined for but I know I can't. Are you alright?," Giles asked with concern. She wasn't sure what type of reaction she was expecting from Giles but this wasn't it. He'd fought her using magic from day one. He'd helped in a plot to kill Spike only a few weeks ago. It seemed as if Spike and her had both proven themselves to Giles yesterday but his support was unpredictable at best.

"I'll be alright Giles," she answered. "I've gotten use to either having the world put on my shoulders or helping those whose destiny is to save the world. It'll take some getting use to but I know this isn't something I can just choose not to do."

She heard Giles sigh. "I know you won't run away from this but if I could shield you from it I would." Then he says something like that and she just wants to go back when she had complete faith in her father figure.

"I know but it'll be alright. It's not like I'll be alone in this. I know I'll at least have Spike. Plus, I'm hoping I can call in some slayer power when the time comes. We'll get through this but first I need to get Spike out of the amulet. Any random ideas on books I should check?," she asked.

"Right, of course. I have a few suggestions. If you can get your hands on them that is." Giles rattled off a dozen titles which she would immediately hand over to Wesley to procure.

"Thank you Giles. Any news on Robin and the other girls? Has Kennedy checked in or come back?"

"Robin made it through his surgery and should recover fully. Rona and two others will be released in a day or two. Kennedy and Faith left last night to pick up a girl in Boston we got word of. They'll be looking for more girls in that area as the coven finds them or as any news reports sound especially suspicious. Vi is staying here to wait for the rest to be released from the hospital. Xander, Dawn, Andrew, Buffy, and I will take everyone else to Scotland."

"Wait, I thought Buffy was going to look for girls?"

"When Kennedy volunteered to go with Faith. We figured it made more sense for Buffy to train the girls and go on short trips in Europe. Faith is better with making the girls comfortable and Kennedy is younger but use to being responsible for a large group of girls." It made sense. Buffy often was too intense and might scare some girls off. She was slightly wounded that Kennedy hadn't discussed it with her but she'd left without speaking to her either.

"Ok. Did Kennedy volunteer before of after you told her where I was?"

"Well . . I  . . I didn't actually speak with her. When the coven called at 6am I spoke with Faith and gave her the information about the new slayer. She packed her bags and drove to the hospital in the bus, picked up Kennedy, went to pick up a rental car, and then had Kennedy follow her back in the bus. Faith and Buffy told me about the new plan. Faith and Kennedy left maybe a half hour ago."

"So, does Kennedy know where I am at all?," she asked confused.

"I'm not sure. I thought you'd have told each other about your whereabouts so I didn't see the need to. They have a phone with them. Would you like the number?"

"Yes, please text it to me after we hang up. Is there anything you need from me?," she said somewhat dejectedly. Either her girlfriend was pissed she'd left without saying anything and decided to pay her back in kind or her girlfriend thought about her as little as Willow did apparently.

"Just keep working on getting Spike out and we'll figure things out as they come."

"Alright, thanks Giles."

"Goodbye Willow."

"Bye."

She hung up and sat there for a moment to collect herself. Conversation from downstairs pulled her from her thoughts. The clock now read 8:02 and the gang had showed up to start their day of work and packing. Downstairs she found Wesley, Gunn, Fred, and Angel at the reception desk with coffee and donuts.

"Willow!," exclaimed Fred with her adorable Texan accent. The skinny brunette bounced over and gave her a hug before shyly pulling away.

 "Hi Fred. I'm so glad to see you guys." Willow gave a wave to Gunn and Wesley.

"So what are you doing here? Angel isn't exactly loquacious." Willow looked at Angel, surprised he hadn't filled them in, at least partially, since she'd called yesterday.

"Well, I'm here to get your help in getting Spike out of an amulet Wolfram & Heart gave Angel to help us defeat the first in Sunnydale."

"William the Bloody?," asked the perplexed former watcher. "I understand he was an ally to the slayer for a time due to a chip but why are you going out of your way to help him? Angel, you mentioned having something to help Buffy when you went to Sunnydale but nothing else."

Willow looked back and forth between Wesley and Angel. Wesley looked confused and Angel looked guilty. One look at his soul and she could see the gray had darkened again.

"I'm helping Spike because he saved the world, again, and it's the least I can do to help a champion," she said succinctly.

"Ok, what?," asked Gunn.

"Who's Spike?," asked Fred.

"William the Bloody, or Spike, is one of the worst vampires in recorded history. Second only to Angelus who is Spike's grandsire. Angel?," Wesley prompted.

"Ok, fine," Angel ground out, looking both guilty and a bit embarrassed for being called out on not keeping his people informed. "Spike has been helping Buffy and the gang for a few years since the government put a chip in his head to keep him from hurting humans. When I went to Sunnydale I found out that he has a soul now." He paused for a second after the collective gasp from his team. "When I agreed to head up the L.A. branch Wolfram & Hart gave me an amulet. Spike used it to defeat the First evil and close the Sunnydale Hellmouth for good. Willow will fill you in on the logistics but during the spell to awaken all the potential slayers in the world to be full fledged slayers . . " Wesley spit out his coffee and stared at Willow while Angel continued. "She ended up with the power to see, feel, and locate souls. That's how she knew Spike didn't truly die when all of Sunnydale collapsed but ended up trapped inside the amulet. Seeing that I'm the one who gave them the amulet Willow came here."

"Plus, my normal research spot is now buried in a crater," Willow interjected.

"After we get him out I'd like to pick your brain about the spell to awaken slayers," Wesley began, "but that can wait. Why don't you sit down and have some breakfast while we get all the details from you and Angel."

20 minutes later and Willow was freshly caffeinated and Angel's team had assignments. Fred and Gunn were going to see if they could tap into Wolfram & Hart's resources to coordinate an amulet rescue mission and Wesley was going to see if they could get some kind of source books to use offsite.

While she wasn't surprised that Angel had neglected to speak of Buffy or Spike, she was a bit annoyed. However that annoyance was squashed when he came back out of his office holding some books.

"Why don't you take these to Spike," he suggested. "I know you have your own research materials to start looking through but Spike gets really antsy when he can't go out and do. I know he's read these before but he might like something familiar right now." Bashfully he handed them over and then walked her upstairs carrying her bag of books and supplies.

When they reached her door he handed the bag over. "Good luck with him Willow. Hopefully Wes can get those source books quickly. In the mean time look through the books we could provide from Giles' list. Can I do anything more for you?," he asked.

"No. Thanks Angel. I'm going to check my email with the loaner laptop Fred gave me to use and then head back."

They hugged and she pulled away quickly, closing the door behind her before Angel could see how his closeness affected her. It always did.

She pulled the laptop out of the bag. Booted it up and checked her email. As she suspected, there was one from Kennedy who had stopped at an internet cafe on the road.

" _Dear Willow,_

_Faith told me that you went to L.A. to help Spike. From what she said I've gathered the powers that be haven't given you much of a choice and I understand this is what you have to do right now. I'm a little hurt you neglected to tell me but I'm guessing my decision to leave with Faith makes us even. We both have duties and I'm not sure when those duties will bring us back together again. All I can think about is helping these girls._

_When I found out I was a potential, my world shifted. When you made me a slayer, it shifted again. I want to use my experience to help bring these girls into the fold and train them so they can survive._

_What we're doing is important but doesn't leave much room for a relationship. We can either try to work around the distance and the responsibilities or we can take this natural exit ramp and allow each other the freedom to find comfort wherever/whenever we can. Let me know what you'd like to do._

_Yours,_

_Kennedy_."

Willow didn't want to make this choice and honestly couldn't at the moment. She needed to get back to Spike. With that excuse she closed her laptop, gathered her belongings, and willed herself back to Spike.

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

Spike woke as soon as the absence of warmth registered and felt better than he had in what felt like days. His hunger had abated, actually felt rested, and he felt a bit of hope, all thanks to Willow. The redheaded witch had left and he wasn't sure when she would return but knowing she would kept him from getting too anxious. Maybe music would help. He turned to the cd player and pressed play. The Sex Pistols rang out and while the loud punk music was his favorite it didn't fit his mood at the moment. It was better than nothing. Maybe, if he was going to be stuck for a while longer, Willow could bring him some more music and a book or something.

He needed to try not to take advantage of Willow's desire to help him. God, he was like a traumatized puppy who got overly excited anytime someone paid him the slightest bit of attention. Even if his demon snarled at the description, it was apt for both demon and soul. Willow had come to help him instead of staying with the scoobies. She'd wrangled Angel into helping. Then she'd brought his favorite music, comforted him, and fed him. She had fed him. It was so unbelievable to him that if the sweet taste of her blood hadn't been lingering on his tongue, he may have assumed it was another trick of the first or his damaged psyche.

How would she behave when she returned? Would she even return now? He wouldn't blame her at all if she didn't but he couldn't see her doing that. If she didn't believe in the power of redemption she wouldn't have brought Faith back from L.A. or re-ensouled Angel twice. However, he did need to try to resist feeding from her again. If she offered it would be difficult to decline but he would try. His thoughts circled between hunger, lust, feelings of not good enough, questioning his insanity, and then manically singing until Willow suddenly popped back into his prison.

"Hi Spike," Willow chipperly said, while blushing and waving awkwardly. He wasn't sure how but now that he'd tasted her she was even more adorable. Bollocks.

"Red," Spike said, with a casualness he didn't feel, and nodded from his place on the floor. "How was L.A.? Any news from Captain Forehead?"

She stifled her laughter before answering. "Well he wasn't thrilled to see I provided you with sustenance." Of course not, bloody ponce. "But I put an end to that and he gave me some books to give to you." She reached into her bag and pulled out a stack of books.

He stood to take them from her and instantly recognized them as his favorites. Not just his favorite titles but the exact copies Angelus had given him when he'd first turned and had trouble passing time during daylight hours stuck inside. He froze and just stood there looking at them. How did Angel even find these? He'd thrown them out after Angel had left him with Dru and Darla in China. Had he stuck around to see the epic tantrum Spike had thrown after hearing he'd left?  Fuck, he was standing here for too long for Willow to not pick up on his reaction to the books.

"Spike are you okay?," she asked. Even more bollocks. He didn't want her to know about him and Angelus. Their souled counterparts didn't get along and he preferred the animosity to the confusion of anything resembling friendship. Irish Catholic guilt made Angel a right bastard now and the appearance of these books hurt in ways he wished he couldn't name but his poet's soul was now able to put words to just how much anguish Angel has caused his demon. William was able to voice the animal like rage that had plagued Spike since his mate abandoned him. Just thinking 'mate' caused his demon visage to emerge and a growl to start low in his chest.

Willow stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder causing his gaze to rise from sharply from the books to Willow's worried face. "Are you okay?", she asked again. "Did the books from Angel upset you?" She touched him and was worried when he was growling with a mouth full of fangs. The woman was incapable of responding predictably to danger.

He needed to change the subject because she'd seen past his walls enough and she didn't need more of his bullshit to deal with. "Did your new powers tell you that?," he snarled. The concerned look fell from Willow's face and a stony one took it's place. It felt like a stone settled in his stomach but it was better than continuing to be vulnerable with her. 

"Believe it or not William," Willow started with a glare, "there are people in the world who observe people they care about and can tell when they are upset without the use of magic powers." She sighed and her face gentled. "I'm sorry if the books upset you. Angel knew you'd get stir crazy in here and was just trying to help. I'll put them away and bring them back with me ok?". She looked tired from dealing with emotional vampires and he felt like an ass for adding to her stress.

"Sorry I growled luv," Spike said gently after putting away his fangs. "I know you both were just trying to help. My demon reacted to the books and some memories involved. Not your fault and thank you for bringing them for me. I'm sure once I start reading them again I'll be grateful. Sorry I snapped at you."

Willow smiled softly at him and handed him the books again and this time he took them and sat back down gesturing for her to join him. She sat and he asked her about news from L.A. again.

"Well, I spoke with the coven and they found a prophecy the believe is about us. It refers to a desired protector, which they believe is an ensouled vampire named William, and a pure Saileach, or willow tree so a.ka. me. Basically I'm supposed to free you from your prison and we'll fight together in an apocalypse. So good news and bad I guess." She shrugged and looked down at her hands. "So originally they thought the prophecy was about Angel cause his name is Liam and he also has a soul but our current circumstances fit the prophecy so well we're focusing our research on that. Giles and the coven recommended some books and Wesley had a few so I can research using those for the time being. We're trying to find a way to get the amulet out of the Hellmouth just in case it needs to be in our possession to free you."

Fuck. Prophecies were a tricky business but if he had to be stuck in this situation with anyone he was glad it was Willow. Between his brawn and brains and her magic and much more impressive brains, they would make a good team. They were both good under pressure when it came down to it.

"Well," he finally said. "Anything else?" She just gaped at him.

"You don't have any questions? You're not worried or freaked out? I'm freaked out! Why am I the only one freaking out?!?!" Apparently his calm was not as comforting as intended and hers much more flimsy than portrayed.

"Look Pet, I know I can handle myself and I know you can too. We've faced apocalypses and big bads together before. I'm having plenty of thoughts and opinions on this but it won't do me any good to get myself worked up over it. I know I'm a bit of a hot head sometimes but I'll save that for when things really blow up. Would me freaking out and venting my thoughts make you feel better?" She sat there calmly for a minute before nodding her head.

"You're right."

He sighed in relief. "Anything else happen while you were gone Red?," he asked again. At the slightly sad expression he saw flash across her face he knew that there actually as something else.

"Nothing I have time to focus on right now. Let's get moving on this research and we can go from there. Did you want to help?," she asked while unpacking her bag of books. Her straight to business attitude was just as avoidant as his snarling earlier. They both had a lot to process and were used to doing it alone. Kennedy should be an outlet for her but he knew well how emotionally unavailable slayers were. They had a mission and it was a solo one. He was grateful Willow's prophecy didn't contain the word 'alone' like the slayers'.

"Sure thing Pet. I'm happy to help you get me out of here. What should I be looking for?," he asked as he picked up a few books, glancing at the titles.

"Dimensional travel as a whole for sure. I think my power dealing with souls is going to come into play and that whatever we do is going to involve using your soul and my soul power to our advantage. Why don't you take that dimensional travel book on the left, yeah the blue one, and read that while I look at some of the soul stuff."

He picked up the book he gestured to. "Alright luv. Also, do you mind if we listen to something other than the Sex Pistols? I love them and thank you for it but something more low key is probably more conducive to research." She smiled and he returned it. Her expressions were always so genuine it was easy to get lost in them if he wasn't careful. Thankfully no one else was around to see him being so agreeable.

"Ok," she chirped as she flicked her hand toward the stereo. The opening notes of one of Chopin's nocturnes started to play and it was instantly soothing. Willow looked at him and smiled a bit bigger, most likely noticing his relaxing shoulders and features. "Are you a fan of Chopin?"

"Very much so. My mum and I listened to his compositions quite regularly when I was a child. Music and literature were important in our home." He smiled wistfully before balling up his duster again and using it to recline against. "Thanks Pet. This is perfect." He raised his book and started reading. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Willow's pleased expression before starting in on her own book.

It took about an hour before he found something relevant and while he could have skimmed it, he didn't want to miss anything important by rushing. He found it in a chapter about moving another person. Since he wasn't the kind of demon who could travel between dimensions and he wasn't a warlock, he assumed Willow would be the one working whatever mojo they figured out. Halfway through the chapter a discussion of mated pairs drew his attention. There were examples of demons mated to witches being transported by their magical mates. There were also cases of vampire mates being able to use their bond to travel to one another and meet in the middle like magnets. Could Angel use their dormant bond to pull him out? If their bond was strong and open and they didn't have souls, then it would probably work. He didn't think he'd be willing to risk losing his soul to get out after fighting so hard to get it in the first place.

Still, he cleared his throat to bring it to Willow's attention. If his life and soul were on the line he needed his savior to have all the information. "Willow, I think I need to tell you something." She looked up and studied me for a minute curiously. I opened my mouth to continue but was interrupted.

"If it's about you and Angelus being mates then I already know," she said before lowering her eyes, either to give him privacy to react or because she was uncomfortable with the topic. He hoped it was the former. "I hope you're not mad but the coven told me about it earlier. They said you were mates but then when Angel got his soul he left and disavowed you. I'm sorry," she said quietly. "That had to be a hard. From what I know of your history after Angel left and your relationship now. . . " she trailed off. "I know why you can't be in the same room with him and why you two fight so much. It all makes sense now. Maybe with your souls you could be together again, or maybe at least friends?," she added hopefully.

He scoffed bitterly at that. "Pretty sure any chance there was at reconciliation was lost a long time ago. Maybe when he tossed me out of submarine miles from land close to sunrise or when I kidnapped him and fed him to Drusilla or when he could have healed me but left me in a wheelchair or when I teamed up with Angelus to end the world only to betray him to help Buffy or when I paid a sadistic vampire to torture him or when I shagged his one true love. My demon wanted him to suffer and he succeeded many times. Besides I'm going to go out on a limb here and say his good Irish Catholic soul is woefully straight. Notice how he only has style when he's soulless?," Spike laughed acidly. "See Pet, I don't need him and he doesn't want me. I just wanted you to know in case the mate bond could affect whatever spell we end up using. I don't want to risk my soul or actually dying so I figured you having all the information would be wise."

She reached out and touched his hand in a comforting gesture. There were a multitude of things it could be for right now so he let it happened and savored the moment while he could. "Thank you Spike. It could play a role. I know mated vampires have some special abilities but I would worry the souls would make any of that risky so I agree that we need to take all the special circumstances into account before trying anything."

"Thanks luv." Spike squeezed her hand and got back to reading. He was thankful Willow didn't push for any more information, accepted his opinion, and moved on.

It must have been another hour when he saw Willow start taking notes. He assumed that up till now, what he'd seen her read had been ruled irrelevant. It's not like an ensouled vampire was stuck in an amulet after dying before. At least as far as he knew anyway. He went back to reading instead of letting his curiosity break Willow's concentration.

One more hour and he noted a few pages with the sticky notes Willow somehow thought to bring along or maybe she magicked them in when he wasn't looking. He was debating whether or not to mark the page he'd just finished reading. There had been one documented case of a human witch being able to transport her vampire mate from another dimension. 

In theory Willow could find the spell used and adjust it to include his soul. If they mated the soul would be part of the bond anyway but he was already mated to Angelus and she was taken and gay or bi or whatever. Plus, he wasn't good enough for her and wouldn't saddle her with all his baggage. Regardless, there could be something about this entry which could trigger a thought or connection. Sometimes inspiration hit in the oddest ways. Witchcraft was an art and science.

 

It had been three and a half hours now and Willow had only moved to turn pages, write, or grab a new book.

"Ready to take a break Pet? You should stretch your legs and at least take a sip of water. Don't want you running yourself ragged. You're my ticket out of here after all," he teased.

"Yeah, you're right," she sighed and set down her book. As he'd seen her do a few times, she moved her head from side to side trying to stretch out the kinks.

The temptation to offer a massage was strong but he needed to avoid touching her if his demon was going to continue to behave. The demon had lusted after Willow for a long time. First it was her innocence and beauty that drew him in, then her magic, fire, and intelligence. His soul recognized a kindred spirit but both parts of him knew she deserved better. Touching her would break down his resolve. She was perfection and while he'd disagreed with her a few times in the past, those instances didn't tarnish his affection and desire for her.

"You ok Spike?," Willow asked. He was snapped out of his distracted thoughts.

"Just peachy luv," he said and she smiled slightly.

"You sure?," she asked.

"I'm fine. Are you? You keep moving like your neck and shoulders hurt." She stood and began stretching her arms.

"They're a bit achy from sitting on the floor. Researching at a table or a couch would be better but . . . " she trailed off and her face fell.

"What is it Willow?," he asked gently and stood. The perceived distress forced his movement towards her.

"Nothing," she replied and shook out her limbs, avoiding his gaze.

He put his hands on her shoulders and tipped her face up with his fingers on her chin.

"Bollocks," he said. "You thought of something that upset you and you're helping me. I'm allowed to care." God that sounded sappy and pushy as all hell but he felt a need to make sure she was okay.

"It's just," she looked down again. "It's just that before . . . I would've just made a couch appear. I mean we need a place to research and sleep so a couch would make sense but that would've upset Tara and freaked out Kennedy and disappointed Giles." Did she have anyone in her life that encouraged her when they weren't depending on her to save the world again? He seriously doubted the world would have survived without Willow helping Buffy, yet they all treated her like a junkie.

On instinct he pulled the melancholy witch into his arms and rubbed her back in a soothing circular motion. She returned his embrace, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Red, you've got nothing to worry about here. I'm not going to judge you for making us both more comfortable with a harmless spell. Your powers aren't going to hurt me and on the extreme off change your spell goes wrong, I'm very resilient."

She laughed light and the feel of it against his chest tingled. Said tingles spread when she lifted her head and met his eyes with her own stunning green ones.

************************************************************

Willow lifted her head to looked into Spike's blue eyes. He earnestly believed in her. No deceit showed in his soul. Demon and soul were calm and entirely focused on her. She never thought she would ever call Spike emotionally comforting but he was. Seeing his soul, it was apparent he was a very complex and emotional creature. Where the heart of Angel's soul was a peach color Spike's was lavender with a small band of light gray surrounding it.

"Thank you Spike," she breathed and then showed her gratitude with a kiss on the cheek. She laid her head back down on his shoulder and savored the support a little while longer. Without the coven around to encourage and reassure her, sometimes using magic felt wrong and the fear of reprimand was constant in the back of her mind. Spike's words meant more than he knew.

After a minute of letting him hold her she felt a gentle rumbling in his chest, heard a quiet purr, and then she felt his arousal by peeking at the state of his soul again. The combined effect made a tingly warmth spread through her chest. If he shifted just right he would feel her now hard nipples through the thin material of their t-shirts. She'd wanted to be comfortable while researching and had forgone a bra when she dressed after her shower. The wisdom of said decision was debatable as it took some willpower to keep her body from betraying her and rubbing against the deliciously built vampire embracing her.

"Of course Pet," he crooned while stroking her hair. "Your magic has done far more good than not and if you weren't supposed to use it then the Powers that Be wouldn't have given you more power, named you a champion, and given you another champion to face down another apocalypse with. I for one am relieved to have you in my corner Red." Spike had managed to tamp down his arousal marginally and was instead projecting gratitude, respect, and an emotion too big and scary for her to name at the moment. "I know the prophecy doesn't give you much of a choice in helping me but thank you Willow," he breathed into her hair before kissing the crown of her head.

Now that Spike was finally calling her by her given name, and not a nickname, she was unexpectedly grateful he hadn't done it much before. The depth of his voice, the way he formed each syllable like a caress, and the rumble of his chest against her . . . she might have gotten just a teensy bit wet. The low grade euphoria from his genuine praise, and the cottony sensation in her brain from her body's reaction, kept her from moving away in a reasonable amount of time.

Determination allowed her to fight through the fog to at least pull back and respond, even if she couldn't bring herself to fully retreat. "Yesterday you gave your life to save the world. Thank you," she whispered before leaning up and lightly pressing her lips to his slightly cold ones. Her eyes fluttered shut and they each moaned before Spike moved his left hand into her hair, deepening the kiss.

When Spike's tongue touched her lips she instinctively parted them to allow him entrance. It didn't take long for the thorough exploration of her mouth to heat up his tongue to only slightly cooler than hers. She was surprised to find she enjoyed the contrast and it made Spike's imposing form feel less oppressive, similar to a cool breeze during a hot humid August day. For long moments the pair continued to taste and explore with lips, tongues, teeth, and hands.

Eventually Spike pulled away, with gradually softening kisses, and spoke. "How about the couch luv? We should probably get back to our research." The deep baritone of his voice made her legs weak,directly in opposition to getting anything accomplished. She looked up in time to see his self-satisfied smirk. In retaliation she caught him off guard, suddenly pushing him backwards with her foot strategically placed behind his ankle, causing him to fall. She did take mercy on him and called a couch into existence behind him before he could hit the ground.

"Oi!," Spike shouted before he confusedly hit the couch mid-fall. "Impressive and sneaky," he praised once he acclimated. "Since I'm already sitting," he grinned at her, "why don't you hand me the next book. You can look at the marked pages of the blue one I just finished."

If he wasn't going to push to talk about what just happened she wouldn't either. For the moment she just wanted to enjoy a moment of warmth and contentment inside of what amounted to a mystical prison with an ensouled vampire who was supposed to help her stop an apocalypse. She would enjoy the moment, strange circumstances and all, so she handed him another book on dimensional travel and picked up his notated one to look over.

The newly 'procured' couch was supportive for long reading sessions with a bunch of pillows to customize at will. It was a deep green color with purple pillows and an attached ottoman to stretch her legs out when necessary. After years of dreaming of the perfect study couch it had been easy to imagine it so quickly when manifesting it. She sat down and opened the book to read, enjoying the comfortable closeness of Spike next to her.

It had only taken another 30 minutes of reading and thinking before she felt like she needed to talk about three things all culminating in a terrifyingly vulnerable discussion of their future. Listen to her, 'their future', like it was some . . . . oh wait, yeah. . . like a literal apocalyptic event was in their future regardless of any other complications. Still, she at least needed to explain her relationship status.

"Hey Spike," she started tentatively. "You at a spot where you can stop for a minute?"

"What's up Pet?," he asked, closing the book in his lap where he was sitting in a lotus position.

"Well I was reading the pages you marked and felt like maybe we should talk about it." He nodded for her to continue. "As you know, mating is a big deal. In a perfect world, your existing mate would be able to do this for you. Without renewing the bond it wouldn't be strong enough for either of you to travel to the other. If we can't find something more ideal we can look into that more later if you're both agreeable. There's no point in me chasing down that lead if neither of you is willing to try." He huffed and just nodded again. His silence spoke volumes.

"Right, well without anchoring your soul somehow, many of the options we've found would be risky. When I mentioned to Angel's team that you fought for your soul, Wesley mentioned some rumors of what the trials could have entailed. Even if it was half of what he described I wouldn't dream of asking you to risk it and I wouldn't until I found a way to give you your soul back without a curse like Angel's." Willow noticed he flinched and the gray of his aura, for lack of a better word, had darkened just like Angel when he was feeling guilty. "Sorry we have to talk about so many difficult things lately. Do you kinda wish we were singing like before?," she asked randomly.

Spike barked out a laugh and shook his head. "No thank you. I can't even imagine how embarrassingly sappy it would get now that I have my soul again." She smiled at his laughter, happy her oddball question shook the dark cloud that had settled over him.

"You're probably right. Plus, there's a reason I don't sing unless forced. Anyway, we only have one viable option at the moment. Good news is that we know we work well together, you can bite me without hurting me or taking too much, and there's a bit of chemistry," she finished quietly. Her faced heated up and she could see Spike staring at her profile as she stared down at her hands again. She took another deep breath. "Right now mating with you is the only way to anchor your soul and ensure the transportation of soul and body. You're stuck in a transitional phase while in the amulet. It's preventing you from fully passing on. There have been cases of mated witches using soul magic to return their mate to their previous state. The soul magic is key here and that's why a traditional vampire mate bond most likely wouldn't work even if I could get your bond with Angel, well Angelus technically, you know .  . . working again."

She paused but decided to keep talking and pretend it hadn't gotten awkward for a second, deciding to use her babbling for good once more. "Plus, we know we have some destiny to fulfill together so being mated could be useful, you know, tactically. I know that one sounds like I'm reaching but honestly it would be good in a fight," she rambled panicking. Babbling for good? Really Rosenberg?

Spike started laughing. "Leave it to you to jump to the logical silver linings of mating. And you're right on the money with the tactics." He smiled wistfully and shook his head. "Angelus and I used it to our advantage many times. The carnage was almost like a dance at one point and our demons found perverse pleasure in it." The gray in his aura darkened a bit again.

"So yeah," she deflected eloquently. "There's some benefits to the mission for sure. Um. . . something we need to really think about is how it would affect us personally. I mean . . I um . . I. . well. . " she stammered annoyingly. She hated how she fell back into her old nervous habits sometimes. No, she needed to just spit out the facts and go from there. "Ok. Fuck it."

"Go for it luv," Spike encouraged. He seemed tickled pink at her about face.

"I'm not sure if you ever heard me refer to myself as a lesbian but I have and that would be problematic to mating considering. . . " she waved her hand in the general direction of his lap before continuing. "But I've thought about it for years now and I'm going to say I'm what you could call bisexual or pansexual. I loved Oz and yeah it wasn't a very mature love but I don't regret it. I guess you could count making out with Xander. . " She could see his eye roll from her peripheral vision it was so exaggerated. Oy vey, he was dramatic. "But I don't," she continued. "He was the only boy who was ever nice to me besides Jesse so all my hormones fell on him for years until Oz came around. Anyway, my point is that while I'm more attracted to women, and historically more compatible, I do still find a few select men attractive. So if we're going to get super technical about it, and we can get a book about this if you want, I'd say I'm a Kinsey 4 ish. Do you have any idea what I mean by that?," she asked.

He cleared his throat and answered with a slight grin. "I do know what the Kinsey scale is. I was born a little less than a 100 years before it and I killed a lot of daylight hours reading before tv existed. Basically, you're saying your mostly homosexual but heterosexual enough to imagine you could be content being in a relationship with a man. And . . . maybe me in the context of this conversation," he finished diplomatically. She blushed and nodded. "Well in all fairness to your honest disclaimer I will offer my own. Using the same scale I'm going to say I'm a 2 historically but I think we all fluctuate. If I had to label it I'd say pansexual. Living on the fringe of society for a century broadens your mind in a variety of ways," he said with a wink.

His confession wasn't surprising considering he'd been known to commit to men and women in the past. Mostly, she found herself even more at ease with him. Neither of them fit into neat boxes and others didn't always understand or react ideally. He understood.

"Well," she sighed, "I want to discuss one more thing before heading back to L.A. for the little girls' room and to check for updates." He squeezed her hand in encouragement. He was being so great about all this change but considering his epic history, he'd have to be well-equipped to handle change by now. She kept wishing she would have taken more time to get to know Spike after his got his soul back. "Um . . . well you remember Kennedy?"

Spike's grip on her hand loosened a bit, clearly signally she could move her hand if she wished, and he let his head fall back against the couch with a sigh. "I do. Did she make it through alright?," he asked.

"She made it out fine and is on her way to Boston with Faith to make contact with a new slayer. My gaining a power, being named a champion, and coming to L.A. were all things I neglected to tell her before I left and in turn she left without discussing it with me either. Right before I came back with the books I got an email from her basically giving me an out. I mean, that spell literally changed us both in a matter of minutes and now we suddenly have destinies and powers. We have missions pulling us in different directions." She paused to let her decision sink in and tightened her grip on Spike's hand. "Regardless of my next course of action I'm going to take this exit ramp, as Kennedy called it. I'm not all sunshine and rainbows about ending it but the fact that I'm not sadder about it kinda reaffirms why it's best choice."

Spike lifted her hand up to kiss the back of it. "Luv, what you had with Tara was the real deal. Your not upset about this because what you had with Kennedy doesn't even come close. I've watched you with Oz, Tara, and Kennedy. Oz gave you confidence and support to come out of your shell. He hurt you but you know you can survive it now. Tara was . . . well Tara. . ", Spike trailed off. Concerned, Willow looked up and saw a deep navy halo softly ringing his aura. When she closed her eyes and focused she could tell it was grief. "Pet, Tara loved you with everything she had. I know magic was a sore spot between you two sometimes but it was also what brought you together. She made you happy and she was kind to everyone, even me sometimes. I'll miss her." He released her hand to place his arm around her.

Willow rested her head on his shoulder as he continued. "Kennedy is a good fighter and made you smile but like I said. . . what you and Tara had surpasses it. Hell, even if we can't find another solution and need to establish a mate bond, I know I'll never replace her and I'd never try to. I've been around a long time and people come in and out of our lives for different reasons. Oz, Tara, and Kennedy have all helped make you the astounding champion sitting next to me today." He kissed the crown of her head and Willow let out a few silent tears in grief.

"I'm not sure how I never noticed how much you actually paid attention to us all but I'm thankful for it right now." 

*********

They both sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking about all they'd discussed and the choices needing to be made. Willow hoped to find a way to free Spike without tying them together for the rest of their lives, if only to give them both choices regarding any possible entanglement. Spike also hoped to find a different way for the same reasons but all to save Willow the frustration. If they bonded she'd have to deal with his demon, his demon's bond to Angelus, and many varied flaws. Deep down though, buried with the part of his soul that stilled believed in God, he selfishly prayed she would be stuck with him and he could make her happy. It wasn't until these last few minutes that he allowed himself to hope at all.

Once they collected their thoughts, Willow stood and gathered a few things to take back with her. "I'll try not to take too long. I have to reply to Kennedy's email, check in with everyone, and take care of some human needs. Is there anything I can bring back for you?," she asked as he stood to hand her a book he'd just finished with.

"Don't rush on my account luv. I have plenty of books to keep me occupied. Bring whatever you need and I'd suggest you take an iron pill." He tucked a stranded of hair behind her ear before cupping her cheek. "I hope we can get me out of here soon so I won't need to drink from you again but just in case I'd like you to take some kind of vitamin with iron. "

She blushed, leaning in to gently touch their lips together before pulling away. "Ok Spike. I'll be back soon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a slower burn than anticipated but it'll get there. My brain is way too dirty not to. (Fixed some typos on 3/23/19)


	5. Chapter 5

The first thing Willow saw when reappearing in her guest room was a pile of clothes, bottles of water, some protein bars, a bottle of vitamins, and a note. Curious, she picked up the note to read it.

_Willow,_

_I know you don't have much clothing now so Fred gathered some of her and Cordelia's clothing for you. Hopefully some of it fits but if you need more just give Fred your sizes and she'll take care of it. Wesley suggested the protein bars and water in case you get too engrossed in research to eat much. I know I wasn't supportive when I saw you'd fed Spike and this is probably presumptuous but I left you some multivitamins with a high iron content. We'll all be downstairs researching today. Come find us when you come back._

_\- A_

She shouldn't be surprised at Fred's helpfulness but Wesley and Angel  . . . well that was new. It wasn't as if either of them had treated her badly. It was more that she was usually only there for research, spells, and very little conversation. Regardless, she was thankful for the fresh clothes and food. Quickly, she showered and changed before sitting down with the laptop and a protein bar. As she ate she composed her response to Kennedy.

 

_Dear Kennedy,_

_I'm sorry I neglected to keep you informed. It's been quite the week for both of us and neither of us have much choice in the matter. What we do have control over is how we handle it all and, while it pains me to do so, I think taking the exit ramp is the best decision for both of us. You helped me realize I was capable of being with someone after Tara and I'll be forever grateful for the strength you lent me. You're going to make a fantastic slayer.  
_

_I'm not sure how much Giles has told you but I do have new powers, I am in L.A. helping Spike get out of the amulet he's imprisoned in, and it turns out that Spike and I are the subjects of a prophecy. After helping Buffy for so long it feels strange to be a part of a prophecy myself but it is what it is. I'm not sure when I'll be able to rejoin everyone in Scotland._

_Anyway, I hope you and Faith are able to bring in the new slayer and help her, and all the others, come to terms with their new lives. As I said, you're going to be a fantastic slayer and all the new ones you'll find are lucky to have you in their corner. I know I was._

_Take care,_

_Willow_

 

She re-read her email a few times before hitting send, hoping she said the right things. Kennedy wasn't the one for her but she still cared. Thinking back, it still surprised her how insightful Spike had been about her relationships. She'd seen him be surprisingly introspective and poignant before his soul so it wasn't like she thought he was incapable of it. It was just that, normally, none of it was focused on her.

Now that she was thinking of it. . . She'd kissed Spike! Only dream Willow ever did that and generally dream Willow was pretty slutty. She missed the days when the most intense dreams she had were about frogs. Now that she'd kissed him she was certain dream Willow would use this new sensory data to her own benefit. Hussy. Instead of getting into a circular internal argument about slut-shaming herself, Willow made her way downstairs to find Angel's crew. At this moment, the potential necessity of mating with Spike was enough to deal with.

The smell of coffee greeted her when she found everyone. Even Angel was drinking coffee with everyone, talking, and was he smiling? She felt her lips turn up seeing her usually taciturn friend actually enjoying the company of others. He smiled at Willow when he noticed her walking into the room, bringing her presence to the others' attention.

"Strawberry come sit down," said Lorne. Willow was happy to see the green empath demon. They'd only interacted briefly when she'd been in LA to help them with Angel's soul but he was kind, cared about his friends, and she was curious to find out more about his powers. She wasn't sure she liked his use of that particular nickname though.

"Hi Willow. Want some coffee? You can squeeze in a chair next to me," offered Fred.

"Hey Fred. Thanks." Willow quickly sat down and Gunn passed her a full mug of coffee.

"Any progress?," asked Gunn. She hadn't spoken with him much but she found his charm welcoming.

"Spike and I found some possible solutions but we want to exhaust our resources before picking an approach," she answered.

"Of course," responded Wesley. "I fear moving demon, body, and soul transdimensionally poses quite the challenge. All the cases we've found have involved mating, historically." A loud choking noise from Gunn and a growl from Angel interrupted Wesley.

"Angel, knock it off," Willow snapped. He quickly glared at her before lowering his eyes and getting his growling under control. His soul was a tumultuous swirl of burnt orange, dark gray, deep burgundy, and a navy blue so dark it was almost black. Angel was feeling so much guilt, anger, and grief. Even the bright green lines were dimmed.

"Sorry, Willow," he said contritely. "I shouldn't have reacted like that. It's not as if you'd seriously consider mating with Spike just to get him out of the amulet." Willow wasn't sure how to even respond to that. Everything she thought of would only start a fight so she decided to ignore him. The glare she sent his way as she thought, didn't go unnoticed.

Lorne cleared his throat. "Regardless of what Strawberry here is or isn't considering to save Spike, I think I should hear her sing soon." Willow was taken aback at that and choked on her coffee. Fred patted her on the back and Gunn passed her a bottle of water. "I didn't mean to catch you off guard Gingersnap. You going to be okay?," Lorne asked. She gave him a thumbs up and he continued. "Basically, if you sing a few teensy bars for me, I can give you some insight into your emotional state and hopefully your future." She knew about his empathic abilities but the future reading and the singing was new.

"Wow, ok. Well, maybe a bit later?," she said quietly. "And in private," she added. She didn't sing in front of anyone unless absolutely necessary. "Any progress or news?," she asked.

Wesley spoke up. "We've heard from Giles. He and some of the others should be in Scotland by tomorrow. The coven has been in contact and would like you to call them. I've been successful in my procurement of source books on prophecies and spells. Once you've finished your coffee, and you call the coven, I can show you how to use them."

"Great. Thank you Wesley. Spike and I have found only one option so far. After everything he went through fighting for and then dealing with his soul, we can't try anything that puts it at risk." Willow glanced at Angel, using her powers, to see his reaction to talking about Spike's soul. She didn't want to upset him but there was a good chance she had. The peach center was only tinged slightly by gray of his ever present guilt and the bright green lines were difficult to see against the dark sage green aura. This was new so she closed her eyes to better feel and interpret the sage green emotion. What she found was jealousy. Of course Angel would be jealous of Spike's permanent soul and maybe even because Spike's demon sought out the soul on his own while Angel's fought him constantly. She definitely needed to find out if the coven had any advice on how to make Angel's soul permanent.

When she opened her eyes Angel was staring at her and she knew she was caught. "Sorry about that Angel. I should probably ask before I use my powers on friends."

"Umm. . What just happened?," asked Gunn.

"It's okay Gunn," Angel responded. "The Powers that Be gave Willow the ability to read souls and not just tell location, like she did with Spike, but also reading the current state of the souls and it's emotions. She just read mine. Willow, it's alright. I understand why you did it just now. I trust you so there's no need to ask for permission. Plus, you're the reason I have a soul so I think you get a pass." He smiled then to try to smooth the awkwardness over. While she was grateful he wasn't offended by her prying, she was going to try to be more considerate in the future.

"Still, I'm sorry Angel," she replied.

They finished their coffees making small talk and then Willow and Wesley followed Angel into his office to call the coven.

"Hello," the strong British voice answered.

"Althenea, Hi. It's Willow."

"Hello Willow. How're you doing? How's William?," Althenea asked.

"I'm good and so is William. Angel and Wesley are with me and we're on speakerphone so I don't have to repeat everything later."

Her mentor laughed. "Well, the coven and I have been looking through prophecies just in case but we still believe in the one we spoke of. You'll free William, we just have to figure out how to do it without endangering his soul. We've only found one approach so far but  . . . . Willow, is it true? Have you and Kennedy broken up?"

Willow inhaled sharply, "How. . . how do you know about that? I just sent the email a half hour ago." She saw Wesley and Angel exchange glances out of the corner of her eye.

"Giles suspected your relationship was ending and he told us so when we mentioned what we found. Also, the coven has been reading cards and throwing runes to gather some insight on how to proceed. I'm sorry Willow. Are you alright?," Althenea asked contritely and with genuine concern.

She was a little surprised but not angry. In fact she was more nervous than anything. It seemed like Althenea was about to confirm what she, and she suspected Wesley, already concluded. "I'll be fine. Kennedy and I are suddenly both part of separate prophecies and we decided it was better to end things. But I'm more interested in what you've found because I believe we might be on the same page."

"Willow, the coven believes the only way to move William's body, demon, and soul out of the amulet is to bind his soul to yours via mating. Because of the demon it will have to be a modified vampire mating ritual."

"No," growled Angel. Willow turned to see him scowling with fangs bared. "I will not allow it." The feminist in Willow wanted to go off on him for thinking he had any say in her decisions but he was Spike's mate. This did concern him.

"Angelus," started Althenea but she was quickly interrupted.

"Angel. His name is Angel," insisted Wesley.

"You're quite right Wesley. I apologize. Angel," she continued, "it sounds like you have some concerns. Let's talk about them so we can come to an agreement on the approach that works best for everyone. The coven is aware of your claim in this matter."

A painful growl sounded from Angel's chest before his demon visage melted away and he sunk down into his office chair. "Regardless of whatever claim I may have had, Willow is gay and shouldn't be forced into this arrangement."

Willow cleared her throat. "First, let's be clear, no one is forcing anyone to do anything. That's why we're talking. Second, Spike and I talked about our orientations since we've already come to the same conclusion. I'm more gay than straight. Because of Oz and . . .and others . . . that I'm attracted to." God she knew she was blushing now. Talking about attraction around Angel made her feel like a high school nerd again. Screw that. Just spit it out Rosenberg. You're a champion for Gaia's sake. "I'm gay with exceptions and Spike is one of them. Neither of our orientations are an issue here."

With that Angel looked away from her again and Althenea spoke up. "That's good to hear Willow. A few of the coven were concerned but every reading we've done points to you being happily mated with William. There were also concerns about his original mating but that bond is currently so weak that it won't interfere with the mating ritual or freeing him. I must warn you, however, that it could cause issues in the future." She looked back to Angel just in time to see his grip crack the arms of the wooden chair he was sitting in. Just reaching out with her powers couldn't differentiate the multitude of emotions Angel was feeling.

"Wesley, would you mind stepping outside for a moment?," Willow asked. And by asked she meant ordered with resolve face but in a nice tone.

Once he'd left Willow looked at Angel's soul. The center peach was darkened with the constant guilt gray overlay. Usually there was only one other color and the presence of the green lines. There was a mixture of three this time. The sage she'd identified as jealousy, the maroon of rage, and the navy of grief. She would bet money that if she looked at a normal human soul the colors would just be light green, red, and blue but Angel's guilt literally made it all darker.

"Althenea, Wesley is unaware of Angel and Spike's mate bond so I asked him to leave. We need to talk about ramifications for us all once we free Spike. I won't do this if it will cause them pain. Angel, I know you don't want to talk about this but we really need to. Can we continue?," she asked gently.

 He cleared his throat and then looked up. "Go ahead."

"Alright. Well, like I said, the ritual and freeing of William shouldn't be affected by the existing bond. When he returns to this dimension and comes close enough to Angel, for a long enough time, the bond could act up. Angel, when was the last time you were near Spike? And were you able to tell he was close through the bond?"

"Last week when I went to bring the amulet to Sunnydale. I could tell he was near the temple Buffy was in before I knew Buffy was in the temple for sure. The bond functions weakly when we're near each other," Angel said forlornly. It wasn't clear if he was upset because the bond still worked or because it was so weak.

"This may be too personal of a question but  . . . ," Althenea paused, "when was the last time there was any physical contact between you? Punches count in this instance."

Angel laughed humorlessly. "I believe that was when he was torturing me three years ago." Willow winced. She'd heard about that briefly but in this new context it was probably much worse for both parties.

"And when was the last time you were intimate?," the elder witch asked.

A low growl forced it's way from Angel's chest but he tamped it down quickly. "China. Boxer Rebellion." Willow gasped at that and then turned her back to hide her reaction from Angel. Angel had his soul then. Did Spike know it hadn't been Angelus at the time? Did that mean Angel wasn't entirely straight like everyone, including Spike, assumed?

If Althenea had come to the same conclusion she declined to comment. "And the last time you shared blood?"

"The last time he had any of mine was in 1898. Before the curse. The last time I had his was 1998." At that Angel slouched over the desk with his head in his hands. It barely took any of her powers to tell he was ashamed. It meant that for some reason Angelus had withheld his blood from his mate, as well as any intimacy.

"Right, well, the lack of intimacy involving blood sharing in over 100 years would cause the bond to be particularly weak. Our guess is it would take an extended amount of time near each other to cause the bond to become problematic in regards to Willow and William's bond." Having the future bond mentioned so bluntly reminded her that this was most likely truly actually happening. And it caused her to sit down rather abruptly.

Angel looked up at her in concern. "You ok Willow?," he asked.

"Just dandy," she breathed. "Um . . . just kinda. . . being hit with it all again. Lots of stuff happening and not a lot of time to process it all." She looked up to check how he was. The colors were calmer but he was still working through some tough emotions of his own. The two constant bright green lines moved as Angel moved towards her. She needed to test a theory. "Angel would you mind getting me some water?"

"Sure, I'll be right back."

While Angel walked past her and out into the lobby, she watched the two green lines move to stay fixed in her direction. No matter which way he turned, the lines stayed pointing to her. It was as she feared.

"Willow, are you still there?," asked Althenea.

"Yes. I'm here. I think I just figured something out and it may throw a wrench into our plans. What do you think it means that Angel's soul has two bright green lines running through it and when he moves they stay pointed at me?" She heard Althenea's intake of air the same moment Angel froze in the doorway behind her.

\----------

Just when he thought this conversation couldn't get any weirder Althenea, after a lengthy pause, spoke up to answer Willow's question. "If I were to guess I would say the lines are remnants of the two times you re-ensouled Angel. The fact that the lines follow you would strongly indicate an active connection between your soul and his. I think you may be right Willow. This could complicate matters."

Normally, Angel would pride himself on keeping his cool but it's been bomb after bomb for the last few weeks. Instead, in his shock, he dropped the glass of water he'd gotten for Willow. The shattering glass caused her to gasp and turn in her seat where she could see Angel in fact did hear what Althenea had just said.

"Althenea," he spoke carefully while staring at the phone. "I'm going to need you to repeat whatever it was that I missed and then explain your last statement further."

"Angel," Willow attempted but he held up his hand to silence her. He knew Willow would try to sugar coat whatever this was and he needed hard facts.

"Apparently, while you went to get water for Willow, she noticed the two bright green lines running through your soul move to stay pointing at her. Both times Willow re-ensouled you she, most likely unknowingly, used herself as a conduit. Meaning, your soul passed through her's on the way back to you and now there are two points in your soul that are tethered to Willow's."

Willow looked like she may be about to cry and he didn't know how to react at all. Was this a potential threat to Willow, William, or himself? Did she have parts of his soul too? If his soul was tethered to Willow's how did that change the curse?

"This is why soul magic, in particular, is not to be taken lightly," Althenea continued. "Willow's early aptitude at it makes much more sense considering what she appears to have been destined for. Am I correct that you were sent to a hell dimension after the first spell but then were sent back?"

"Yes. The First told me they had the power to bring me back and tried to get me to turn back to Angelus." His mind was racing at the implications. "Wait, are you saying I came back because of Willow?"

"I'm saying that it's a possibility."

"Ok, wait," Willow cut in. "If his soul is tethered to mine somehow then wouldn't it mean he couldn't lose his soul again? That doesn't make sense with the curse, plus he DID lose his soul again."

"The first time his soul was given to him, the gypsy who did so was killed shortly after. The curse may have been written knowing that the tether would be severed long before he was able to achieve a moment of pure happiness or it could have been purely accidental as the curse was written and cast by a grieving woman. "

"Right, and us grievers are not known for the rational thought," Willow said with a sigh. "Alright, lets say his soul is tethered as long as I'm breathing. How was he able to lose it again recently?" Willow was asking good questions and thank goodness since his brain was porridge at the moment.

"Angel, you employed a Shaman to create an illusion to bring Angelus out. We believe you willingly giving up your soul is what allowed that to happen." That didn't make much sense to him but he wasn't a witch.  "Additionally, the jar it was placed in was not far from your person for very long."

"But, the muo-ping jar was stolen," Willow supplied.

"Yes, it did Willow but you were able to break it, retrieve the soul, and re-ensoul Angel all while the beast's master actively fought against you doing so. I'm going to ask the coven but I believe it would be safe to say, especially now that we know about the tethers, no other person would have been able to do so. It was most likely that single tether which allowed you to do so. While the two tethers currently on his soul may keep it safe for now, I wouldn't test the theory and if we are correct, his soul would only be safe while you're breathing. "

"And now as repayment I complicate her life even more," Angel muttered. When Willow looked at him like she was going to try to placate him, he just raised his hand and she dropped it for now, thankfully. "Althenea, regardless of what it means for my soul, will the existence of these tethers affect Willow's efforts to free Spike?"

"Your demons are bound together so the condition of your soul should have no affect on it. However, William will be binding his soul and demon to Willow's soul. His demon's bond to yours, again only if strengthened, may have an impact on her."

"So, the existence of the tethers in Angel's soul mean there are tethers in mine right? How would I tell? Can I read my own soul if I look in a mirror?," Willow asked.

"You could try it but I would guess it would be the same as with vampires. Mirrors don't reflect magic," Althenea answered. "Angel, Wesley mentioned an empath demon the last time we spoke. Is he in the area? I think he may be able to confirm it by reading Willow." Angel wasn't sure how he kept being surrounded by such intelligent and insightful women but he was eternally grateful for it.

"Sure, I'll go grab him." Angel left to go find Lorne. Wesley looked at him questioningly from the table in the lobby where everyone was sitting researching. "We're still talking to Althenea but we need Lorne," he said to the group as a whole and in answer to Wesley.

"What can I do for you Angelcakes,?" asked Lorne.

"Althenea would like you to read Willow. I know you were planning on doing it later but there's a specific need for it now." Angel realized he said to much when all present looked at him. "I'll fill you in later. Let's go."

Lorne followed him back into the office. He wasn't sure if he was hoping there were tethers on Willow's soul or not. If there were, that meant his soul was a little more stable but also that Willow had altered her own soul unknowingly and selflessly. Any part of Willow that was in his soul undoubtedly improved it but what would part of his do to her? Had it already affected her? His soul wasn't the best, even before the demon and all the guilt. No, he needed to calm down. Nothing could change what had happened but he could protect her from any more harm inflicted on his behalf.

"Alright, Strawberry, let's hear you belt it out," Lorne said in greeting and he noticed Willow flinch at the nickname.

"Althenea, meet Lorne. Listening to people sing is how he's best able to read them. Can you explain to him what he's looking for?," asked Angel.

"Lorne, Willow recently discovered two tethers from Angel's soul to her's. In theory the tethers should be present in her's as well. We're unsure if Willow's powers work on herself and we were hoping, since you've had your powers for much longer, if you could read Willow and see if a connection to Angel's soul is present."

"I see. You think witchy-poo used her soul as a conduit when re-ensouling him. I'm not always in control of what a soul decides to show me but we'll take a good look around and see what's what." Lorne clapped his hands together and focused his attention on Willow.

"Alright Strawberry." This time Lorne noticed the flinch. "Willow," he corrected. "I just need you to relax and sing a few bars of something for me."

Willow nervously thought for a minute before a song came to mind and after taking a deep breath she put on her resolve face. Angel's admiration for her reared it's head again. Then she began to sing.

"Early one morning, just as the sun was rising, I heard a young maid sing in the valley below. Oh, don't deceive me. Oh, never leave me. How could you use a poor maiden so?"

A sort of phantom pain pierced his chest at the familiar song. How sweetly William used to sing that to him. His demon loved and hated the memory. Lorne was looking between Willow and him and then raised a hand to tell Willow she could stop.

"Well kiddos, your hunch was correct. There's definitely some tendrils linking you two. And now that I've read her, some of your confusing readings in the past make more sense bossman." How he loved and hated Lorne's flair for the dramatic vagueness. Always a showman. "Let me ask you this Red. Why'd you pick that song?" Angel wanted to know too.

"Honestly," she answered with an embarrassed blush still on her cheeks. "I researched the song recently so it was the first one that popped into my head."

"Why'd you research it?" Angel felt compelled to know.

"When the First kidnapped Spike she placed a trigger in his brain that made him kill again. It somehow overrode his soul, the chip, and left him with no memory of what he'd done. We eventually figured out this song was the trigger. Spike was able to overcome the conditioning but I researched it anyway. He said his mother sang it to him as a child."

"Yeah, I know," Angel let slip and Willow looked at him almost sympathetically. Her knowing about the bond, and his time with Spike during the Boxer Rebellion, would take some getting used to. Of course, who knew how much he'd see of her once she freed Spike.

"I'm not surprised," said Lorne. "Decisions regarding Spike are the most dominant on your mind right now. I can tell you really want to help him and there's some genuine affection and respect for him. Which, thank goodness, if the bonding solution is what ends up happening. I picked up on your vibes with Miss Texas out there last time so I'm glad to see you're a switch-hitter per se." Angel coughed at the in appropriateness which was Lorne but fortunately Willow just chuckled and looked a little more at ease now. Empath demon, duh. "Also, you care about your friends and their mission and Angel and his. That's all well and good sweetie but you have your own mission now. Champions have a tendency not to take care of themselves or think of their own happiness, like Mr. Tall Dark and Broody over here. Try to make a little time for happiness too or you'll forget what you're fighting for." He ended his sentence gazing straight into Angel's eyes.

Angel was used to Lorne's pointed comments but surprised he'd make one so soon after Cordelia. Before most of Lorne's pushing was towards Cordelia, what was he doing now? Trying to tell him not to grieve forever? It hadn't even been two weeks. Now was not the time.

"And what about the effects of the tendrils on Willow's soul? Do you think it will cause problems if she were to create a soul bond with Spike to free him? Will having a line to my soul affect her's in anyway?" Angel needed to know these things or he'd work himself into an anxiety laden brood.

"Right now I fore see Willow and Spike bonding and being happy when they aren't out Championing. You're involved in parts of it all but how so isn't clear. Now, if you'd like to sing for me the picture may get clearer." Nope, not right now. He had enough on his plate. Plus, he didn't need to embarrass himself in front of Willow anymore today.

"Maybe later Lorne. Right now I think that was helpful enough for Willow and Spike to make some decisions."

Willow looked at him with some surprise and raised an eyebrow in question. "You're not going to growl some more?"

He sighed. "No, I'm not. Lorne do you mind stepping back outside with the rest of the gang?," Angel asked.

"No problemo boss," Lorne replied as he gracefully exited.

"No, I'm not going to growl some more Willow. All signs point toward mating with Spike being the only way to free him and also maybe what the Powers that Be intended all along. How I fit into it or don't can be figured out later. We know mating will work and everything else after that is speculative at best. It's up to you and Spike now anyway. Althenea what do you think? Did Lorne help clear anything up for you?"

"Yes, he did Angel, thank you. Willow, the coven, Wesley, Lorne, yourself, and William have all found the same thing. The safest and easiest way to retrieve William from the amulet is to bond his body, soul, and demon to yours via a mate claim. However, this is the your life Willow. You have a mission and a sense of duty but this is your soul and your freedom. There is also one more aspect of this we haven't gotten to yet." Althenea paused. "In the handful of witch vampire matings on record, the mates lives were suspected to be tied together. There are two confirmed cases of a witch living and not aging alongside their mate until both died at the same time. The deaths of the other three or four pairs are unknown."

She was right, Angel realized. It was rare but the only witch/vampire pairs he'd heard of were together for centuries. This meant Willow could be essentially immortal without the weaknesses or strengths of a vampire. It was a mixed bag for sure and he didn't envy her or Spike this decision.

"So," started Willow a bit shakily. "You're telling me that the Powers that Be want me to mate with Spike and fight evil for a couple centuries." She started to laugh a bit hysterically but tamped it down and took a deep breath.

"Are you alright Willow?," asked the elder witch.

"Not sure. I think I need to think about this for a while. I need to get back to Spike and let him know all this stuff. Him and I need to talk this out and make this decision together. How is this my life?," she huffed.

Angel put his hand on her shoulder. "We've all got your back Willow and we'll support whatever you decide." He wasn't thrilled but she didn't need him making this harder on her. But  . . . . he would pummel Spike if he hurt her and help hide her if she ever asked. He'd always been protective of Willow and that feeling only seemed to keep growing.

"Willow, I want you to go back and discuss this all with William. If you choose the mating you'll need to look up the mating ritual. I believe you'll find it in the 16th century history of the Order of Aurelius but check with Wesley. You'll need to modify it to include William's soul but that should be relatively simple. Once that's ready, if that's what you decide, we'll do a group call with the rest of the coven to go over and make sure we have every detail covered before you perform the ritual. Do you have anymore questions before you head back?"

"No," Willow said stoically. She was already deep in thought. "Thank you for all your help. Thank the rest of the coven for me?"

"I will. Take the time to talk it through and think about it. Angel, thank you for you help and tell Wesley to call if he has any questions. Goodbye, Willow."

"Bye," Willow said before hanging up. She let out a deep sigh and turned to look up at me. "Angel, how are you really feeling about this? I know you're being support but am I stepping on your toes?"

"Stepping on my toes?" Did she think he wanted Spike back. "You mean with Spike?"

"Well, yeah," she answered seriously. "I know you too have a colorful and chaotic history but you're mates. I know it couldn't have worked when he didn't have his soul but he does now. Didn't even a part of you recognize that possibility when you heard he had a soul?"

Honestly, maybe a small part of him had but that didn't matter. It would never ever work. "When I found out I could smell him all over Buffy so, no, that thought hadn't occurred to me at that moment." Oh damn. At the mention of Buffy Willow started biting her lip and that complication reared it's head. "What about Buffy?"

"Spike said she's not part of the equation. Buffy pretty much refused to talk about him with me so I'm taking him at his word. I should probably check in with her." Willow looked nervous but a look at his watch told him that would have to wait anyway.

"She's on the flight to Scotland with Giles. He's supposed to call when he lands. I'll fill him in and then either myself or him will talk to Buffy. We'll tell her what the current options are and see what she thinks."

"By current options do you mean mating or keep researching?," she asked rolling her eyes.

"I guess," he said a bit sheepishly. "I know it's not the best plan but it'll be hours before you can speak with them. If you're here when Giles calls then you can talk to him."

"Fine," she huffed. "After this is over I'm not making a major decision or casting another major spell for at least a month."

He chuckled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll do what I can to make that happen for you."

"Thanks, Angel," she said while leaning her head into his side for a moment of comfort. Quickly though she stood up and started walking out of his office. "Wesley," she called as Angel followed her. "I need you to show me those source books and how to find the vampire mating ritual for the Order of Aurelius."

She was one hell of a woman. He tamped down a quick flash of jealousy and pointedly didn't examine who he was more jealous of. Willow for getting his mate or Spike for getting a woman as great as Willow or even worse for getting Willow specifically.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angel is so hard for me to write but hopefully this was alright and didn't drop too many new things on you at once. Happy Holidays! (Fixed typos 3/23/19)


	6. Chapter 6

It took Wesley just a few minutes to give Willow a tutorial on using the source books. While he obviously knew the mating ritual they were discussing was the best option for Willow to free Spike, Willow could see his soul was conflicted. She remembered his black and white attitude regarding Faith and Angel back in Sunnydale. Honestly, everyone she'd ever met from the Council could be pretentious at best and evil at worst. Buffy was fortunate Giles had been chosen as her Watcher and his relationship with the scoobies opened him up and broadened his outlook. Wesley seemed to have been granted the same opportunity with Angel Investigations. They were all lucky to have Giles and Wesley on their sides. She smiled up at him because she knew, that regardless of his reservations, he was trusting her judgement.

"Thanks Wes. These source books will help us figure this whole mess out. You won't get into trouble for lending them out to me, in another dimension, will you?," she asked.

"Not at all Willow. I'm technically the head of the department now so I have the authority to do so. Plus, I figure getting on the good side of two more champions can only help us out down the road."

She chuckled and looked over to Angel and Fred talking. "I should be heading out." Angel's head turned at that, obviously hearing her from across the room.

"I'll walk you up," he said and walked towards her. She figured he wanted to speak privately once more before she left.

"Ok. Thank you guys," she addressed the rest of the group. "Hopefully we'll get this sorted soon and you can get back to moving prep." Waves and well wishes were tossed out as they left.

"You got everything you need to head back? Did you need anything for Spike?," Angel asked. He felt nervous and she wondered if he really wasn't as okay with all this as he had said. Angel never seemed to be much at ease but that might be because she was typically only around him when there was a problem. She'd have to get use to knowing for sure when others were uncomfortable and respecting their decision to keep it to themselves. That was not going to be pleasant but thank goodness she wasn't an all out telepath.

"I've got the snacks and the books so I think I'm good. Are you okay Angel?," she asked. "I know you said I wasn't stepping on your toes but that doesn't mean you don't have feelings about this."

When they got to her room he followed her in. "We've both moved on and are so different now. Even if I wanted that, too much has happened and unless a miracle drops into our laps, he'll be yours soon." He was avoiding eye contact as if it would give away how he really felt. As if she couldn't tell his demon was raging at him and his soul was conflicted.

"Look. Regardless of the bond I may create with Spike, your bond will still be there. Your demons are still drawn to each other. As far as moving on, if my history is correct, the only person you moved on to was Buffy. The only people Spike ever loved, except you, were Drusilla and Buffy. We both know Harmony doesn't count." That got a small huff of laughter out of him so she decided to press a bit further. "You two have so much in common. You're the only vampires with souls that we know of and you're related, mates, and basically have the same human name. You even loved the same woman and turned into champions. It seems a shame to throw away such a unique shared connection." It was kind of ridiculous how closely linked they were.

"Are you wanting me to give you a reason to not mate with Spike?," Angel asked with what sounded like concern but seemed to Willow more like deflection. "If you're trying to manufacture some connection between Spike and I, don't. It's a fruitless endeavor."

If it wasn't for the sad loneliness his soul and demon were sharing, Willow may have lost her cool. Instead she rolled here eyes at Angel and turned to start packing her bag. "I'm not looking for any excuse to not go through with it. It is most likely the only safe solution so it's going to happen regardless of your feelings about it. BUT . . . " she paused and turned to him with her resolve face firmly in place, "any relationship I form with Spike doesn't overwrite your existing bond.  It doesn't negate the fact that you two are the only creatures who've experienced half of what you two have. I know there is more bad blood between you two than not over the last century. I know that . . . I'm just asking you to have an open mind when I bring him back. The more I research these bonds the more I realize just how much you've hurt each other and how much you could help heal if you chose to."

Her face softened as Angel looked down and studied his shoes in discomfort. She hoped she hadn't pushed too hard but Spike was coming home soon and the ramifications would be upon them quicker than anyone wanted. "I won't say another thing about it until we bring Spike home, however that happens."

"Thanks Willow," Angel said quietly as he looked up. "I know you're just looking out for both of us but yeah it's not something I want to think about too closely at the moment. Thank you for respecting that."

With a new sense of understanding between them, Willow walked over to him and placed a light kiss on his cheek. "Thank you for all the help and resources. I think I have everything I need now. I'm going to check my email, use the restroom, and then head back."

"I'll leave you to it," he said and then left like the shadow he could be.

Willow opened up the borrowed laptop she'd used earlier and logged into her email. There were messages from Kennedy, Giles, and Buffy but instead of choosing the perceived easy message first, she opened the oldest one first. Kennedy had replied.

" _Hi Willow,_

_I agree that this is path with the least amount of hurt. Being forgotten, even momentarily, hurts and with two separate prophecies it's bound to happen to both of us a lot. Giles mentioned you were going back and forth between the amulet, with Spike, and Angel's team in L.A., trying to free him. Sounds like we both have our hands full. Good luck and if you ever need anything let me know._

_-Kennedy_ "

Willow breathed a sigh of relief. It was a short message but one that seemed amicable enough. Hopefully it wouldn't get too strange if they all had to work together again. Considering they knew of at least one apocalypse coming, it seemed likely. No response was necessary so she moved to the next message from Giles.

" _Hello Willow,_

_I've spoken with Angel and his crew in L.A. and the coven. I hope you don't mind I told Althenea I'd suspected Kennedy and yourself would be ending things. While I'd much rather you stayed with Kennedy, I understand the difficulties Slayers have with relationships and when multiple prophecies are involved, it all becomes quite complicated. The research the coven and Wesley have done all point to you mating with Spike. You can imagine I'm not thrilled with the prospect and I hope you think about it all very carefully before making any rash decisions. I'll be dedicating some time on the flight to research and will task some resources toward it. Hopefully we can find a solution that doens't force yourself and Spike into a bond neither wants. I'm worried how Buffy and Kennedy will take it as well. Just don't rush anything._

_-Giles_ "

Willow wasn't sure how to feel about that. She kept wanting to see him as her awkward father-figure but it was hard to not be offended by his assumptions. There was nothing to do about that now though and she didn't feel a need to respond. Lastly, she opened the message from Buffy.

" _Hey Will,_

_Giles and I are about to get on the plane and he let me use his phone to send this real fast. I just wanted to say I was sorry to hear you and Kennedy may be breaking up. I overheard Giles speaking with the coven and while he wouldn't tell me why he told them that he did explain what he thought the reasons are. I know the prophecy (what is with the prophecy by the way, spill, Giles won't say anything and now I'm worried) thing is a lot to take in and it's not like you get a Watcher whose studied your specific prophecy either. At least you don't have to deal with high school at the same time. haha._

_Anyway, if you're scared you and Kennedy are doomed cause she's a Slayer and we suck at relationships. . . don't. Kennedy is not me. If you really think you both are better off apart then I only hope you find someone you can be yourself with and who loves you for exactly who you are . . . and hopefully doesn't have their own weird prophecy situation too. Maybe you can get that Fred girl to switch teams? ;)_

_Love you girlie and I hope you and Angel can get Spike out of the amulet soon. I miss you. Also, Prophecy Girl, I need details!  
_

_-Buffy_ "

Now she felt slightly guilty. Buffy was being so supportive while she was contemplating not only mate bonding with her ex but maybe hooking him up with her other ex. Ugh. Couldn't she have been thrown into a prophecy with someone minutely less complicated? While she knew Buffy wouldn't get the message for at least 12 hours, she wanted to explain what was happening a bit before Buffy heard anything second hand.

" _Hey Buff,_

_Thanks for the condolences. It hurts but I'll be fine. Spike helped me through it. As I'm sure you know, he's way more observant and thoughtful than any of us would have guessed. Spending time with him in the amulet has given us a chance to interact without all the tension that's normally around and it's refreshing. Without anyone antagonizing each other it's quite peaceful researching and we have the same taste in classical music so that helps. As far as Kennedy goes, I do truly believe our break-up is for the best. I care about her but it wasn't a love like I had with Tara or Oz. She helped me believe in myself more and I'll always be thankful for that._

_You're right about the prophecy thing too, especially since this prophecy involves another person.  Apparently, Spike and I are now champions and are destined to fight an apocalypse together, once I free him from the amulet. Even with the new soul powers, Spike and I may have to perform a ritual to get him out of the amulet and available to make sure I don't die in said apocalypse. We don't have any details about the apocalypse yet as we're all just focusing on getting him out. Giles can fill you in more about the prophecy. Tell him I give my permission. This affects you too but I'm glad Giles gave me the chance to at least give you the basics before you here the stupendously ridiculous parts of it.  
_

_Miss you too._

_-Willow_ "

Now that the seeds were planted, she finished her last minute prep, gathered her things, and willed herself back to William.

______

 

Sometimes having a soul just meant his demon caught his anxiety and they both just got stuck in a circle of uncertainty, fear, and rage. It wasn't exactly the best combo and he was hoping to calm down before Willow came back. The demon usually kept him from getting all weepy but he didn't want to be a rage monster around her either. After living/un-living for 150 years he should have gotten a handle on his emotions but you can't logic yourself out of anxiety. At least that's the gist of all the psychology and self-help books he'd read, but would never admit to. He knew he needed to identify what was causing the anxiety and then process it.

Okay, here goes. He knew he liked Willow, was attracted to her, and had some shared experience with. Relationships had been built on less but if they needed to mate he wanted it to work out. His demon raged at him to do whatever it took to get out but his self-preservation instincts screamed the exact opposite. His demon never wanted to experience the hell that was being abandoned and abused by his mate again. His soul's fear of rejection from his time alive was not helped by the rejection his demon felt for a century. But that wasn't Willow's fault and he refused to take any of his anxiety induced rage out on her. She wasn't Drusilla, Harmony, or Buffy who enjoyed the pain and rage and violence.

His soul knew that if he'd met Willow while living, she'd have been the object of his affection, not Cecily (or Halfrek), and he was certain she would have at least wanted to be his friend intellectually. She'd not have teased him. His soul had no doubts about wanting to be with Willow. His demon had always wanted her and now that they were spending one on one time together there was real affection. Fortunately, the soul was there to temper the demons actions, like a governor chip that allowed violence but only against evil.

After thinking it through he knew the anxiety was caused but not knowing how Willow felt, how she would react, and what was going to happen once she released him. The unknown, a constant reason for stress. However, there was literally nothing he could do about it at the moment. At best, he could ruminate about a life they could build but he knew the fight against evil would come first and his plans would be tossed to the side. Should he treat this as a business arrangement with benefits? He'd been bonded before and while they'd done their best to stay away from each other, the universe kept putting each other in their paths. They had been able to go a couple decades in between meetings until he'd come to Sunnydale. As soon as the mated pair had gotten involved with the Scoobies it seemed that fate, or maybe the Powers that Be, kept putting them in each other's paths.  Or making Spike think it's a good idea to go back to Sunnydale for a spell, or a ring, or to kill Buffy, or to recover from getting his soul. Would he keep going back to L.A. now that Sunnydale couldn't draw him in any longer? Maybe it wasn't Angel or Buffy or Willow and it had just been the Hellmouth pulling him? Maybe he would now have a sudden urge to go to Cleveland. No, he probably wouldn't have ended up on that stupid submarine if the mate bond hadn't always been pulling in the background. Who knew what was going to happen at this point.  Dawn could get kidnapped and he ends up back in South America fighting demon traffickers or some other bullshit.

Right. So making plans to calm his mind wasn't going to help either. He knew he connected with Willow physically and intellectually. They both wanted to fight evil and take care of their loved ones. Relationships had started on less. Whatever news she came back with, they'd deal. He turned the Chopin back on and picked up Jane Eyre instead.

Jane had just been proposed to by St. John when Willow materialized. "Red," he exclaimed; jumping up and greeting her on instinct. "Hey. We ready to blow the Popsicle stand?," he said to cover his enthusiasm at seeing her.

"We have to work some on the ritual necessary but unless an 11th hour miracle solution presents itself it looks like we'll be creating a mate bond," she said with a small nervous smile. Spike's demon wanted to charge forward and claim her but also roared that his existing mate should be taking care of them.

"Alright. So I'm guessing the coven and Wesley came to the same conclusion as us. Did you speak with Giles yet?," he asked warily. Giles arranged for his murder not too long ago so he could only guess the Watcher's opinion.

"No, but he emailed me. The coven filled him in. Now that he knows what our only option is he's going to devote resources to find some other solution." Her small laugh lacked any humor and she shook her head slightly. "Did you ever meet Lorne?" She must have read the confusion in his tilted head so she continued. "He's an empath demon who can read someone's future and emotions through song. I sang for him so we could get some input from him. Basically, Lorne thinks we will mate and be happy together." Spike let out a breath he'd been holding instinctively. "And the coven cast some runes and found the same thing. All signs point to us mating." She blushed then and Spike couldn't keep back his grin.

"I can't say I'm disappointed as I'm definitely winning in this scenario but what about you? How do you feel about this?," he asked stepping closer to her hopefully and her blush deepened before she steeled herself and looked up to meet his eyes.

"I feel like our choices were taken away, and I'm upset about that but, as we've discussed there's attraction, respect, and affection between us. I think we can make this work." Affection and arousal ran through him as a shiver up his spine. Willow blushed again. "We need to adjust the traditional vampire mating ritual to include the soul and make some decisions but once that's done, and I've had it approved by Wesley and the Coven, we can get you out of here."

Knowing the decision was 99% made (save for a miracle) lifted a weight off his shoulders and he couldn't help himself. In two strides Willow was in his arms and their lips were pressed together. For as quick as he'd moved, he was still cognizant of his strength and had started the kiss as gently as possible. Her warmth was pouring into him through her lips and surrounding him with her arms wrapped around his waist. The gentle kiss became heated when he felt her tongue lick at his bottom lip tentatively. He opened in invitation and then they became lost in each other. His hand were buried in coppery tresses while she squirmed against him and moaned into his mouth.

She pulled away and breathed his name, his true name, "William".

Her eyes were slightly hazy and her lips wet as she looked up at him. "Willow, Luv," he whispered as his hand cupped her cheek. He placed delicate kisses on her lips, nose, and cheeks before stepping back and grabbing her hand so they still had some contact. "While I know the lack of choice isn't ideal, I'll do whatever I can to make sure this works and you're happy," he pledged.

"Me too," she answered and squeezed his hand in reassurance.

"So, other than shackling ourselves to each other what news from L.A.?," he asked with a smirk.

"Well, Kennedy and I are officially over," she answered. He pulled her back into his arms and sort of felt like an ass for not asking but there was a lot going on and she'd already said she was going to end things.

"You alright, Pet?," he asked.

"Yeah. Sad it's over but between the new powers and prophecy I don't have any extra processing power to devote to being a mess and over-analyzing like I'd normally do," she said laughing at herself.

"Is that a good thing then?," he asked with humor. She was adorable.

"It really is. Remember when Oz left and you and Buffy almost got married? Yeah. . .me not having time to wallow is the best thing for the world as a whole." He inwardly cringed at the mention of one of the lowest times of both their lives honestly. However, he just hoped she would be able to cope and process more when, if, things calmed down.

"Well, luv," he said leaning down to kiss her forehead, "I'll do my best to distract you if need be." Delicate shoulders shook in silent laughter against him.

"I'm sure you'll do a good job." She reached up on tip toes and kissed his lips softly before disentangling herself. "But . . right now we need to study the ritual and decide how we want to do this. It's not like a human marriage where you can do everything willy nilly as long as the paper is signed. There are certain parts that must be done but lots of it we can customize. I want us to both be comfortable. I'm not sure which traditions were observed during your previous mating. I would assume it pulled from the Order of Aurelius ritual but I never got the feeling yourself or Angelus were fans of the Master, so maybe you did something radically different as a big fuck you?" She ended it as a question but with a smile as she sat on their couch. He knew she had access to study his soul whenever she wished but the way her mind put all of the information together always impressed him.

He laughed because she was right and sat down next to her as she pulled out a book. "The Master was a wanker and while most demons are deviants he wasn't a fan of us poofs. We wouldn't have been allowed use of the sacred whatever instruments every other couple in the order had used. Being the stubborn bastards we are, we found the ritual in a book and did the bare minimum as far as ritual went. As long as it worked we were happy. It obviously did cause . . " he trailed off. Shit. And she noticed him freezing up and raised her eyebrow in challenge, as if to dare him to keep secrets when they were about to be mated for life. "When Buffy sent him to hell I felt him die." Willow gasped. "I got a vague sense of his return but by then Dru and I were in South America and I hadn't had his blood since the Boxer Rebellion." She nodded knowingly. "How did you know that?," he asked with a slight edge of accusation. That's not something anyone but Angel would know.

She gently placed her hand on his leg and explained. "Althenea asked Angel some questions about your bond in order to figure out if there was a chance of using the existing bond, which we knew would be a no go, but also to figure out if it was strong enough to cause complications with ours. Angel was concerned on how it would affect me. One of the questions was about the last time you'd exchanged blood. He mentioned the Boxer Rebellion and then Sunnydale when he was Angelus again but he'd said he didn't allow you to drink from him. I'm sorry," she said softly and squeezed his hand.

"Yeah, well. He was so pissed off about everything the soul had done, pissed at me for going after him multiple times . . . even if he had a soul at the time and was actively going after me too . . . bugger. Then he was so hell bent on making you guys pay that I wasn't much more than a scapegoat/bloodbag to him at that point. I was also in a wheelchair from the organ that fell on me." She squeezed his hand in comfort again. "No matter. I'm fit as a fiddle now, save for the lack of a heartbeat and currently being imprisoned in an amulet." He lifted his scarred eyebrow and smirked at her long enough to see her concern lessen. "Besides, from where I'm sitting I'm coming out on top. Maybe literally?," he asked jokingly and was rewarded with an elbow to his ribs and a giggle he'd make it his mission to hear again and again, regardless of any elbows coming his way.

"We can discuss that when we get to the copulation part of the ritual," she shot back with a straight face. Then burst out laughing again.

With the cloud of Angel cleared for the moment Willow picked up the book, spoke some latin at it's binding, and opened it to a page detailing the standard vampire mating ritual. Willow pulled out a notebook and a pen and they got to work discussing and hashing out how they want their bond to begin. This was way more fun than wedding planning, or more fun than Harris and Anya ever made it look. He got to plan out how to fuck and bite a hot and scarily powerful witch. Yeah. He was definitely coming out on top.

\-------

The typical shyness Willow had while talking about sex faded relatively quickly with Spike. First, she knew he couldn't be shocked by much after his long deviant life. Second, he'd at least wanted to bed and bite her since she was still wearing fuzzy pink sweaters so the attraction wasn't just a ploy for freedom. A peak at the vibrant orange of arousal in his soul quieted any doubts there. They'd been talking about their ritual for at least two hours now, pulling in various traits from the soul bond witch couples engaged in, the demon bond of vampires, and the various human/demon, human/witch, and witch/demon pairings. The basics centered around a vow, copulation, and an exchange of blood. The thought of Spike's fangs in her again made her shiver and warmth pool in her belly.

Blushing was still an issue but fortunately stuttering, and alternately babbling, was sparse. "So, we've decided on the text of the vows, how we'd like the sex to go, and the biting order. Right? All good?," she asked looking up from her notes when Spike put his arm around her shoulder.

"I'm in full agreement with everything on that paper. How're you feeling? Hoping Giles pulls off a last minute rescue?," he queried with a overly confident smirk but she could sense the unease behind it, barely there but still tumultuous beneath the surface. She hoped one day, maybe after the bonding, he'd stop being so insecure. Hell, she wished that for herself too.

In answer she leaned in and kissed him. "Nope," she popped the 'p' playfully before hopping up to stretch flirtatiously. "Don't tell me you forgot who we decided gets the upper hand in this bond already?"

The shit-eating grin on her face, she knew, was smug as all hell, but in all honestly Spike had given up a lot of power. Most surprising was how okay he was with it all. Every time they needed to make a call on who said what, what position, or who went first, she looked at his soul. The only modulation was levels of arousal and some fuzzy swirl of peach and green she was coming to interpret as affection. No negative emotions came up when it was decided she would be the so-called alpha bondmate. Spike shared he'd felt that his demon should not be put in a position of power over Willow and when pressed for further confirmation he'd shared his belief that Willow was more intelligent than him, regardless of his 140 years of reading for fun. His faith in her helped settle worries about her magic use becoming a problem for them.

But now, she was done thinking about the spell. The real world was moving slower so they had time to kill. Time that, pragmatically speaking, could be used for getting more comfortable with each other. Specifically, making sure nerves didn't get the better of them when they finally got around to the ritual. Practice makes perfect right? Slutty dream Willow was supplying her with images to go along with all they'd talked about.

"No, luv. I'll happily follow you and it wouldn't be the first time if you recall," he retorted. And that was true. He'd followed her plans into battle and followed her directions during too. The few times they actually butted heads was the few times Willow could say she regretted her choice. You know, like kicking her best friend out of their home and electing Buffy's former nemesis as leader. 

She turned and smiled at him. Now that it was all planned out she allowed herself to feel the joy at knowing she wouldn't be alone or cast aside again. Yes being made a champion was scary but she was given a partner to face it with it. A chiseled vampire with sharp cheekbones and sparkling blue eyes that were currently roaming over her body hungrily.

"Come here, luv," he beckoned with an outstretched hand. When she was within reach, Spike grabbed her hand and pulled her forward till she was settled straddling his lap. She smirked when she heard the small groan he made when her warmth made contact something suspiciously hard in his lap. Feeling giddy she ground her hips down and laughed when strong hands still her hips. The growl and emergence of his fangs squashed any humor she felt and now it was only the arousal pumping through her veins that drew her attention.

"Spike," she breathed before capturing his lips in a filthy kiss. His cold tongue found it's way inside to tangle with hers and she loved the contrast. Slowly warming hands had slipped up the back of her shirt, freeing her hips, and she began to rock her hips gently to the rhythm of their kiss. As he explored her mouth thoroughly his hands needed up and down her back, sides, hips, everywhere he could reach that wasn't currently pressed against him. Soon she needed to breathe and broke the kiss.

"Bloody hell," Spike groaned and they ground against each other. The friction of his erection against her core allowed her to get an idea of how wet she already was. The slickness was delicious so she kept grinding down on him but once she'd found her breath she decided to see if his neck was as sensitive as hers. When she placed an open mouthed kiss near his jugular and began to suck the pale cool skin there, his shiver and moan was answer enough.

They spent minutes with Willow attached to his neck and him writhing beneath her. The sense of power that filled her only heightened her arousal. "William," she moaned before sucking his ear lobe into her mouth. His hips bucked up, unseating her mouth from her prize, but instead she switched sides and started over again.

"Fucking hell woman," he moaned overwhelmed. "If you want me to cum in my jeans keep going but I'd really like to taste you luv. You smell so delicious." He shivered again and she released his neck reluctantly.

"Since you asked so nicely, we can do that," she smirked. Then she could only gasp when, quicker than she thought possible, she was flat on her back with Spike's hand undoing her jeans and his mouth at her neck.

"You drive me crazy pet. I can smell how wet you are for me and all I can think of is burying my tongue in you until you scream my name." His lips brushed against hers as he spoke quietly against her neck.

Soon she was naked from the waist down with Spike kneeling between her legs. He only paused there momentarily before he laid down and began to lick his way up her thighs to his goal. Her heart was racing. She hadn't been with a man in years and this wasn't an ordinary man. He'd honed his techniques over more than a century and she'd gotten some indication of his size earlier. Goddess she hoped she didn't disappoint him.

Spike stopped his ministrations and laid his large palm across her belly. "Calm down, luv. You're shaking like a leaf and your heart rate, while initially flattering, is racing too fast for it to just be arousal. Are you ok? Do you want me to stop?"

She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm her nerves. "Just a little nervous. As far as men go, I've only been with Oz and that was 3 and a 1/2 years ago."

He just nodded and moved up her body to kiss her lips gently again. "We can stop and wait for the ritual if you want." Gently, he placed kisses all over her face before kissing her lips softly and slowly till she became a puddle beneath him. "But I'm guessing you may want to get all the nerves out now, huh?"

Fuzzy arousal and relaxation clouded her thought process a bit but she could still understand speech thankfully. "Yeah," she sighed. "Keep going."

"Are you sure Willow?," he asked searching her eyes for any hint of discomfort. The gaze was too intense and she wanted to stay relaxed so she closed her eyes and rocked her hips up into his.  Her wet center ground against his jeans and the friction caused her to cry out.

"William, please," she moaned.

Finally he was convinced and quickly moved back down her body, no longer wasting time on her thighs, he went to her core and began long slow licks. When he dipped inside her entrance she felt him suck and then moan. Soon all she could hear, past the roaring of her own blood, was slurping and moaning as he feasted on her. Her existence centered on the smooth tongue, lips, and teeth that were assaulting her with pleasure.

"Fuck, William," she cried. It was as if those word snapped him away from his meal and he began to work her towards orgasm in earnest. Cool fingers entered her overly heated cunt and quickly found her g-spot. Her muscles squeezed and sucked at his digits, causing them both to moan. With two fingers curling inside her, Spike latched on to her clit and sucked while flicking his tongue back and forth as quickly as possible. Not long after the assault of sensation began, aided by the vibrations from Spike's moans, Willow's damn broke and she came harder than she had in over a year. 

She was still shaking from her orgasm when Spike began licking her thighs again. "Bloody hell," he moaned and kept licking. "You taste marvelous. So sweet. Fuck." He kept moaning and licking. "Don't mind me. I'm just going to spend the rest of my life down here."

She giggled, "Spike, you can stop now. Besides, you're a bit overdressed," she said in a hopefully enticing manner.

"Nope, gotta clean all this up." He laughed and moaned at the same time. She sat up on her elbows a bit and saw Spike was grinding his hips into the couch as he persisted.

"It can't be that bad," she started but stopped mid sentence when he lifted his face. Her cum was coating his mouth, nose, chin, and cheekbones. His eyes were no longer blue, his pupils dilated in arousal to the point that they were black. "It's a goddamn feast. Please let me finish, luv," he pleaded. "Please. Once I'm done I'm completely at your mercy," he promised.

"Alright then," she sighed and let herself flop back onto the couch. It wasn't like she was going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Or a hungry vampire in his talented mouth? She giggled at her obviously cum giddy brain.

Spike ignored her odd laughter and continued his mission. She basked in it till he used his hands to push her legs up and out further to lick the back of her thighs where her juices had overflown. So slowly, she barely registered it, he moved closer to her center again. This time though when his tongue found his target it was her other hole.

"Of fuck," she gasped. He paused but since she didn't try to wiggle away he kept going, cleaning her cheeks and furled hole with his tongue. They both moaned in unison when he pressed his tongue a little deeper. But just as quickly, he licked his path back to her thighs and up to her stomach, lowering her legs again.

"Thank you Willow. Mmmmm delicioius." He crawled up her slowly kissing her stomach and then chest as he pushed her top up. She was braless and at this point her ignored breasts ached to be touched.  Sensing her need somehow, Spike took a nipple into his mouth and suckled gently while needing the other breast. He continued switching back and forth until Willow stopped him.

"Spike, you are wearing too many clothes."

"Mmmm. M'busy," he muttered out as he switched breasts again.  It felt good and all but the nipple play had worked her up again and she wanted to touch her future mate.

She snuck her hand to the back of his head slowly, then when her hand had a good chunk of hair, she pulled him away from her chest harshly. A desperately turned on vampire with shiny lips and black eyes moaned and ground his hips against her in pleasure. She put hair pulling on her mental list of Spike's kinks and she had a feeling she'd be uncovering a lot.

"I let you have your fun and you promised to behave once you finished. Now be a good boy and strip." He just nodded and then quickly stripped. From his reaction she added submission to her list.

He stood panting (out of an instinct she thought he'd of lost by now), naked, and hard next to the couch. She'd sat up when he'd stood and was glad she had because now she could fully look at him in all his pale glory.  His nipples were hard and he shivered under her gaze, drawing her attention to his cock. It stood up proudly, almost flat against his belly, reaching 7 inches. It was larger than the only other penis she'd seen in person but didn't look painful fortunately. Sex with another woman didn't always include penetration but by no means was it something her and her partners shied away from. They typically used toys smaller than him though. It was good thing most of what Spike had licked off her had already been replaced by fresh arousal.

She pulled the pushed up shirt off of her and reached for her new lover. He came to her eagerly but she stopped him when he moved to join her on the couch.

"Just a taste," she whispered coyly before reaching out and licking a stripe up his cock, eliciting a gasp from above. She slowly licked it until it was wet enough for it to slide smoothly in and out of her mouth. She was only able to take about half of him in at first. It became easier as his flesh warmed but it had still been a while since she'd gone down on a real dick.

Steady moaning matched her rhythm until she felt hands on her head pulling her off. "Luv, I know I said I was at your mercy but I'm about to cum." She was curious to see if he had a decreased refractory period but didn't want to push it on their first time.

She smiled up at him and placed a gentle kiss on the tip before laying back on the couch and spreading her legs in invitation. He didn't need to be asked twice and quickly settled between her legs while also claiming her mouth again. She could taste herself on him and the dirtiness of that never failed to delight her. He lowered himself as they kissed and soon his hips were thrusting against her, coating his cock with her wetness.

"Invite me in Willow," he breathed against her lips.

She moved her head to the side and whispered, "Come inside William," before biting down on his neck as he entered her.

"Oh god, yes," he groaned at the twin sensations. Willow had no time to be smug as her walls stretched around the cooler length and he bottomed out at her cervix. Unsurprisingly, Spike paused and waited for a signal she was ready. Once she started moving her hips beneath him, he took that as permission and started long, slow, and deep strokes. "You're so tight and hot. Oh god," he groaned before speeding up.

"Yes, William, yes," she cried. He sat up and grabbed her hips changing the angle of his thrust to smash against her g-spot every time. "Oh goddess," she yelled and surrendered to pleasure coursing through her, cumming on Spike's cock.

"Willow," he shouted once more and she felt him cum inside her, triggering another orgasm for her.

As soon as his orgasm was over he collapsed on top of her and she hugged him to her basking in the new intimacy they shared.

"Well, we know that works," she sighed. They both laughed softly but neither was ready to leave the peaceful cocoon they'd created. All too soon reality would come crashing down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slow burn is officially over. This is my first sex scene so hopefully it's not to cheesily porny. Also, it's finally spring yay!


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